Although it was leaked earlier in the week, today the Justice Department and the nineteen states party to the successful monopoly suit against the software maker will officially release their joint proposal for a remedy. The proposal will call for Microsoft to be split into two companies, which would be forbidden to recombine for at least ten years. Under the proposal, one of the companies would sell Windows, while the other would be responsible for application programs such as Office. This follows US District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson's April 3 ruling that Microsoft had violated antitrust laws by stifling competition in the Internet browser market and "unlawfully tying its Web browser" to Windows. Microsoft has until May 10 to respond, but has already stated that it will request an extension, a move in line with the company's general "go slow" legal strategy that may drag the case on for years barring any move by Judge Jackson to expedite the case to the US Supreme Court.