Reports in today's Wall Street Journal Europe (WSJE), claim Microsoft is on the brink of splitting into four separate units. The announcement could come as early as next week, the newspaper claims. Although no sources were quoted in the report, the WSJE cited "people familiar with the situation" and claimed the new divisions would be centred around customer-facing lines rather than product portfolios. This report seems to reinforce calls from the Software and Information Industry Association (the artist formerly known as the Software Publishers Association) which produced a 40-page document calling for Microsoft to be subjected to a three or four-way split. ®