<a href="http://www.satirewire.com">SatireWire</a> announced that a <a href="http://www.satirewire.com/news/jan02/patchsoft.shtml" title="Surprise Settlement Evenly Splits Microsoft; One Firm to Make Software, Other to Make Patches">Surprise Settlement Evenly Splits Microsoft...</a> into two pieces, but not separated into 'operating systems' and 'applications', as previously proposed, but into 'software' and 'patches'. <span class="quote"><q>Critics immediately charged that the settlement — which overrides a previous agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice — does nothing to diminish Microsoft's standing as the world's most powerful software company. But industry analysts argued that providing patches for security holes in Microsoft programs is a major, untapped growth industry, and applauded the states for not allowing Redmond to control it.</q></span>