> Date: Fri, 02 Jan 1998 09:57:46 -0500 > From: James Packard Love <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: USA Today op-ed on Microsoft > > The following is the text of Ralph Nader and James Love's 332 word op ed > in the January 2, 1998 issue of USA Today. The editorial board of > USATODAY took a contrary view, which is available on their web page > today. Jamie > > > http://www.usatoday.com/news/comment/ncoppf.htm > > 01/01/98- Updated 11:32 PM ET > Microsoft denies choice > By Ralph Nader and James Love > > The problem with current antitrust enforcements isn't that the Justice > Department is asking too much, but rather that it has yet to seek > broader remedies for Microsoft's anticompetitive conduct. > > The current dispute concerns an important but narrow issue. Can > Microsoft force computer manufacturers to install Microsoft's Internet > Explorer software every time they want to license Windows 95? The > "tying" of a competitive product to a monopoly product has long been > considered illegal under antitrust laws, and for good reason. > Unfortunately, tying is only one of many anticompetitive strategies. > > Consider what Microsoft is doing to force consumers to "choose" its > Internet browser. It's redesigning the technology for help files to > require IE. Important operating files have "migrated" to IE, forcing > consumers to install IE to get updates. Third-party software developers > who license important operating files must distribute and install IE, > plus deploy technologies Microsoft owns on web pages that work only with > IE. Many new Microsoft software applications and tools won't work unless > IE is installed. And now Microsoft is rewriting Windows 98 so it will be > impossible to uninstall IE. > > Microsoft also wants to redefine Windows as the "Windows Experience," > with desktop links to partners and subsidiaries in electronic commerce. > > Microsoft constantly changes Windows operating files, adding > undocumented features. Microsoft's applications programmers see these > files long before everyone else, are permitted to distribute them first, > and are the only ones who know what the code does and how it will change > over time. It is no accident that Microsoft's competitors have trouble > offering products which are both compatible and good performers. > > In addition to tying disputes, policymakers should focus on problems > arising from the need for information technologies to interoperate with > each other. One model for this is the 1984 IBM agreement with the > European Commission to enhance competition in computer mainframe > networks. > > Software is no longer about spreadsheets and word processors only. It is > increasingly about content, commerce and communications. No one firm > should control the architecture for the information highway. > > Ralph Nader is a consumer advocate and James Love is director of > Consumer Project on Technology (http://www.cptech.org) >
