Questions asked
in this forum:
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Should the Justice Department consider "vaporware" an unfair practice? |
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Why hasn't a similar suit come about earlier? |
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What occupies the 10 percent of the market Microsoft doesn't control? |
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What innovations is Microsoft responsible for? |
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Is there less public resentment towards Microsoft than other monopolies? |
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Frank Tamborello of Houston, TX asks:
What are the possible outcomes of this suit? Could Microsoft actually be broken up, as AT&T was some time ago? Microsoft has had a choke hold on the PC operating system market for many years, why hasn't a similar trial come about earlier?
Paul Gillin responds:
Microsoft was prosecuted by the Justice Department for four years until a
consent decree was reached in 1994 regarding the company's operating
systems licensing practices. So while there was never any trial, Microsoft
has been under government investigation for most of the last eight years.
As far as a breakup, that is highly unlikely. The government generally
doesn't break up monopolies (AT&T and Standard Oil being the two major
exceptions) but prefers to put limits on their activities. There are many
possible outcomes, of course, but the most likely ones are that Microsoft
has to deliver the browser separate from the operating system and has to
uncouple the browser from the operating system in the way it writes
licenses. I also expect there will be some limitations on Microsoft's
ability to promote its own electronic commerce services from its browser
homepage, but that's strictly conjecture on my part.
Next question...
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