ADMINISTRATIVE NOTES Newsletter of the Federal Depository Library Program --------------------------------------------------------------------- December 15, 1999 GP 3.16/3-2:20/18 (Vol. 20, no. 18) --------------------------------------------------------------------- GPO Provides Public Access to Microsoft Decision At the request of the Federal District Court for the District of Columbia, the Government Printing Office (GPO) prepared print copies and online access to the "Findings of Fact" in the Microsoft case issued on Friday, November 5, 1999, by Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson. GPO was asked to make advance preparations for the rapid dissemination of the document. GPO established a specific URL for the "Findings" to be released on GPO Access, GPO's popular Internet information service at . The Microsoft document URL is . At the Court's request, the document was to be made available in WordPerfect and Portable Document Format (PDF) formats. GPO also added availability in HTML format. To handle the anticipated demand, GPO arranged to have the document loaded on 10 servers configured behind a BigIP load balancer, served by five T1 lines. The Court also asked that GPO make available printed copies of the "Findings" through its main bookstore on North Capitol Street in Washington, DC, starting at 6:30 p.m. on the date of release. GPO produced copies of the cover in advance, established a $25 price for the product, and made preparations to dedicate high-speed duplicating systems for rapid document production. In addition, GPO set up a system for taking advance orders for the print publication. Judge Jackson announced the decision at 4:30 p.m. on Friday, November 5. A printed copy and electronic disk version of the 207-page document, entitled Findings of Fact: In State of New York, ex rel. Eliot Spitzer, et al., v. Microsoft Corporation, cases 98-1232 and 98-1233, were transferred to GPO by the Court. Print production began immediately, and a sufficient number of copies was produced by the time the bookstore re-opened at 6:30 p.m. At the same time, the electronic version was readied for the 6:30 p.m. release online. In the first hour of release, online traffic was heavy. GPO Access experienced 152,000 successful connections in the first hour of release, with new connections averaging between 75 and 100 every 4 seconds by 7:30 p.m. Between 6:30 p.m. Friday, November 5, and noon on Monday, November 8, GPO Access experienced 395,000 successful connections. A total of 147 copies of the print document were sold between 6:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. on November 5. Most of the network evening news broadcasts about the decision on Friday were filmed in front of GPO's bookstore. Print copies of the "Findings" are also being made available for public access through Federal depository libraries located throughout the Nation.