Microsoft sent a letter to Capitol Hill leaders claiming the recently proposed breakup of the company would prevent the addition of significant new features to Windows for up to a decade.

The proposed remedy amounts to "an elaborate set of software engineering and business restrictions" that would forestall Windows development for the near future, according to the letter sent last week from the software giant's Washington office. Many of the arguments from the letter will likely be incorporated into a brief that Microsoft is scheduled to file tomorrow. The court brief will outline how Microsoft thinks it should be punished in the landmark antitrust case, following the government's call for a split of the software giant. Although the company is required to propose business remedies, many industry observers expect Microsoft to simply reiterate its stance that it did not violate existing antitrust law. Not surprisingly, Microsoft told congressional leaders the breakup proposal would unfairly punish the company and cripple its ability to compete. The company, which in the letter referred to the proposed operating system company as OS Co. and the applications operation as Apps. Co., argued such a division jeopardized existing and future products. "The DOJ plan outlaws an innovative Microsoft product, Microsoft BackOffice, by assigning parts of the product to the OS Co. and part to the Apps. Co.," the letter said. The company also said the "DOJ plan appears to prohibit the development of exciting new products now under development at Microsoft, such as new versions of Web TV, the X-Box game console." The Redmond, Wash.-based software maker added that "the regulations relate to products,markets and issues that were not involved in the DOJ's lawsuit against Microsoft."