— 1975: Microsoft is founded by Paul Allen and Bill Gates, friends from Seattle's Lakeside prep school who co-wrote a programming language for the Altair hobby-kit personal computer a year before. By 1991, Microsoft's operating systems are used by 93 percent of the world's personal computers.

— July 1994: Microsoft in a consent decree agrees to change contracts with computer makers and eliminate some restrictions on other software makers, ending a Justice Department investigationbegun in 1993.

— August 1995: Microsoft launches Windows 95. Retail versions don't include an Internet browser, which is initially sold separately but later distributed for free.

— December 1995: Gates details a shift in Microsoft strategy to focus on the Internet.

— September 1997: Microsoft launches Internet Explorer 4.0 in stepped-up challenge to Netscape Communications Corp., whose share of browser market slips to less than two-thirds of Internet users.

— October 1997: Justice Department sues Microsoft, alleging it violated the 1994 consent decree by forcing computer makers to sell its Internet browser as a condition of selling Windows.

— December 1997: U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson issues preliminary injunction forcing Microsoft to stop, at least temporarily, requiring manufacturers who sell Windows 95 "or any successor" to install its Internet Explorer. Microsoft appeals.

— May 1998: Justice Department and 20 state attorneys general sue Microsoft, charging it illegally thwarted competition to protect and extend its monopoly on software. One state later dropsfrom the suit.

— June 23, 1998: A three-judge federal appeals panel removes restrictions that Jackson imposed on Windows 95, saying there was adequate justification to bundle the Internet browser in Windows.

— Aug. 27: Two government lawyers begin questioning Gates for 30 hours over three days in a videotaped deposition. Excerpts are shown in the courtroom during the trial, and Gates appears so evasive and forgetful that even the judge is surprised. Separately, America Online begins secret talks to buy Netscape.

— Oct. 19: The antitrust trial begins, expected to last sixweeks.

— Nov. 24: America Online confirms it will buy Netscape in a deal ultimately worth $10 billion, weeks after testimony in the trial from senior executives at both companies.

— Jan. 13, 1999: Government rests its case after calling 12witnesses.

— Feb. 26: Microsoft rests its case, also after 12 witnesses.

— June 1: The final, rebuttal phase of the trial begins, with each side allowed to call three more witnesses each.

— June 24: All testimony ends.

— Sept. 21: Final oral arguments from each side prior to the judge issuing his factual findings.

— Nov. 5: Judge issues findings of fact.

— The Associated Press

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