Original Sender : Ari <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> --------------------------------- http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/091/business/Microsoft_justice+.shtml UPGRADE Microsoft justice By Hiawatha Bray, Globe Columnist, 04/01/99 Here's an idea: Let's have one of our bombers drop federal prosecutor David Boies on Belgrade. Maybe he can pound some sense into this Milosevic fellow. He certainly did the job on Microsoft Corp., which is finally engaged in serious discussions to end its public humiliation at the hands of the Justice Department. It's hard to feel much sympathy for Microsoft, a company that is doing today what it should have done 18 months ago. Back then, Gates' crew could probably have averted the antitrust suit by providing a version of their Windows operating system shorn of its Internet browser. Big deal - nobody would have used it anyway. Instead Gates and his people chose to fight. Now they find themselves squatting in rubble of their own making, wondering what went wrong and hoping the conquerors will toss them a few chocolate bars. As in any war, there are folks on the home front who want no mercy for the vanquished, while others, thinking they've suffered enough, want to offer generous terms. Microsoft is no doubt dreaming of getting off with another consent decree, similar to the one the company signed off on in 1995 to settle an earlier antitrust case. This new decree would surely be tougher and more sweeping. For instance, Microsoft might pledge to sell its operating system software to all comers at the same price and allow computer makers to provide a version stripped of the Internet Explorer browser. Surely it would ban those cozy deals with Internet providers that Microsoft used to freeze out the rival Netscape Internet browser. The decree might even require Microsoft to provide companies with a look at the crown jewels - the actual source code for Windows. That would mollify competing software makers who say that Microsoft includes ''secret'' features in Windows to make sure that other firms' Windows programs don't work as well as Microsoft's. But if the Justice Department settles for this, cries of ''sellout'' will fill the air. Microsoft will certainly try to wriggle through every available loophole, as it did with the 1995 decree. Besides, many despise Gates and want to see him hanging by the heels. Short of that, they want a corporate equivalent of the death penalty - the dismantling of Microsoft. This radical surgery might involve simply dividing Microsoft's operating systems business, its other software activities and its Internet operations into three separate firms. An even tougher concept, the ''Baby Bill'' approach, would set up several mini-Microsofts. Each would have the right to produce all of Microsoft's current products. But because each would compete with the others, none would have a monopoly. It's a measure of Microsoft's skill at making enemies that the Baby Bill plan has won the support of Robert Bork, a jurist renowned for his hostility to antitrust lawsuits. A breakup will certainly make life easier for Microsoft's competitors. But it seems a rather harsh penalty for a company that has at worst been shown up as arrogant and thuggish. To justify such rough handling, one surely ought to set out the case that Microsoft has actually harmed the public in some fashion. And on that point, the government has had virtually nothing to say. There are practical problems with a Microsoft breakup as well. If you chop Microsoft into three firms, at least two of them will still hold monopolies, in operating systems and office suites. And what's to stop the operating system company from adding, say, word processing and spreadsheets to its product? As for the Baby Bill plan, say you've got three different companies selling Windows. What do you suppose they'll do to win market share from one another? You guessed it - they'll each create their own unique versions of Windows, each with different features. Sounds nice until you realize that soon one version of Windows will no longer be compatible with the others. And there goes Windows' biggest advantage for consumers - the fact that every Windows computer works the same way. Kosovo's bad enough without balkanizing the software market. Granted, a stiff consent decree and vigorous enforcement lacks the satisfying simplicity of putting Gates' head in a trophy case. But it's probably better for computer users like you and me. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Compu-Mania MailingList is provided by PT Centrin Utama Maintained by : [EMAIL PROTECTED] To Post a msg : Send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To Unsubscribe : Mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] BODY : unsubscribe Compu-Mania For more information, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with "HELP" in the BODY of your mail (without quote). ----------------------------------------------------------------
