The Department of Justice has applied to the Court of Appeals to omit the 52-day period in which Microsoft can appeal for a re-hearing before the Court of appeals and send the case to the District Court immediately. The logic is that the court tried the case with all 7 justices, and the decision is unanimous, so the court would reject the appeal anyway, so no need for the 52 days.

What this request shows is two things.

• The DoJ intends to pursue the case aggressively.
  
• The DoJ is gunning for an injunction on Windows XP (why they are in a hurry).

If the DoJ can get the new judge to grant an injunction before the October release of XP, Microsoft will be in major hurt. They just might start taking settlement seriously.

Major fantasy time - suppose the DoJ's real target isn't XP, suppose it's XBox. If XBox doesn't go out on time, Microsoft is just plain washed up in the consumer market. Talk about pain. Talk about billions in lost development costs. Talk about Little Billy on his knees pleading for a settlement. Too bad it can't be true.