McNealy told business executives in Boston that the justice department is on the right track in its landmark antitrust lawsuit against Microsoft.

"I would say you must divest yourself of all minority investments and no longer make any other equity investments of any size in any other company," he said during a luncheon speech at the Boston College Chief Executives Club."I would try that as step one," said McNealy, a student of antitrust issues while a student at Harvard University in the 1970s. "And if they remained incorrigible, I would break them up, not horizontally, but I would create three Microsofts."

The justice department and 20 states formally charged Microsoft last week with using its Windows operating system to seize control of the software market for browsers to access the Internet.Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft denies the charges.

Sun has engaged in its own legal battle against Microsoft over the Java computer language, which Sun developed. Sun also makes computer workstations.

McNealy and other computer industry executives appear to take delight in kicking Microsoft as its legal problems have mounted. His criticism echoed comments made by Oracle Corp chief executive Larry Ellison on Tuesday at a Harvard University conference on the Internet.

Ellison said Microsoft has taken "tacitly illegal" and "outrageous" measures to protect its dominance of the personal computer desktop.

Microsoft Corp executive vice president Steve Ballmer said via satellite at the Harvard conference on Wednesday that Microsoft is not limiting access to the Internet and will win its legal battle with the government.

"I feel very confident that we will prevail," Ballmer told faculty and students. "In no way will our company restrict users' choice."McNealy mocked Microsoft chief executive BillGates's Senate testimony earlier this month that his company is an innovator and not a monopolist predator.

"Software's different," he said, shaking his head. "Isn't that like Rockefeller saying oil's different," he said, referring to the government's breakup of Jhn D Rockefeller's Standard Oil company in 1911.

Gates testified earlier this month before the Senate Judiciary Committee that there were none of the barriers to entering the software business that exist in other industries.