During the hearings in which the 19 states and the DOJ tried to determine if Microsoft and its Windows operating system (OS) was a monopoly, I listened keenly as executives of the high tech industry tried to explain technology to members of the U.S. government, and how the technology industry had worked. One particularly interesting exchange occurred when then Netscape CEO Jim Barksdale stood up and addressed the room:"How many of you use computers?" he had asked. The majority of the sheep, er government officials, in the room raised their hands. He then asked:"How many people here who use computers run Microsoft's Windows on th ...view middle of the document...
I was dumbfounded.So, what the US government is saying with its decision to break up Microsoft into two companies, is, GOVERNMENT knows what IS better for you and what IS better IS for Microsoft two be broken apart, because the way it conducts business has harmed consumers. Huh? Does it all depend on what your definition of the word IS is? Has Microsoft harmed me? Not. Do I get my work done with Microsoft products, however mediocre, at best, that some of them are? Absolutely.The government didn't tell me what kind of PC to buy. Consumers decided to buy Windows-based PCs versus Mac-based PCs. And because the people, the consumer, who have (at least in the US) the freedom to buy Windows over the Mac (or any other available OS), chose Microsoft products, the company should be broken in two?IS it the consumer, who voted with their wallets, that made Microsoft a "monopoly" or IS it Microsoft who made itself a monopoly with its "ruthless" business practices? Does it all depend on what your definition of the word IS is? Barksdale and all the other CEOs who pushed the government into its suit against Microsoft are just jealous of the Microsoft's success and Bill Gates. They realize that they aren't as brilliant as the Harvard dropout from Redmond. Is it the consumer who are sheep in choosing with their hard earned cash what kind of computer they want to use? OR is it the government who are sheep in going along with Barksdale and all the other CEOs claiming Microsoft used its "monopoly power' to harm consumers?