U.S. versus Microsoft

The following articles are from the New York Times.  This is not exhaustive of all articles done by Steven Lohr and his colleagues and appearing in the NYTimes.  You should visit http:/www.nytimes.com in order to get access to all of the articles or read the whole set of articles in hard copy at almost any public or college library.

Before beginning your journey to making a case for or against MS, you need to know the relevant statutory law and the case law.   Click for a graphic of related case law.  In our system the legal system interprets and applies statutory law.  As a result the law is evolving and dynamic.  This is quite different from roman law or the napoleanic code as used in other parts of the world.  How many years is the sitting judge going to listen to testimony, or can he just read it?  The rich and powerful are different:  And you thought the president of the US was the only person allowed to testify on video of his office.  Bill Gates went Bill Clinton one better, Gates got to stay in his own office.

The Making of a Giant: How did Microsoft attain its market dominance?  This is really more a recounting of the product markets in which MS is a player than a true telling of the business strategy used by MS to gain its dominance in the PC software market.  Does Microsoft always play hardball, or are they trying to meet the needs of customers? What does Apple do when the 1,000 lbs gorilla applies leverage in the browser wars?  Is there a pattern in MS' dealings with America on Line and Apple, did MS push around apple?  Did Apple try to push MS around by threatening to sue?   What does it mean to say that MS is a monopoly?   Has MS softened its approach as they are accused of competing too aggressively by the DoJ?  Does anything scare Microsoft?  Why is Sun's JAVA programming language perceived as a threat by MS?

A Microsoft Timeline: Significant Dates in the Case, and an outline of the issues and key players that will go to trial. Establishing a pattern of anticompetitive bahavior seems to be the DoJ strategy: The evidence from IBM and Intel, past and present. The pundits now predict that MS is getting ready to do-in RealNetworks.

Will this case be even more important than politics?   Does the Clinton administration understand that the future direction of antitrust law is being determined in this case?

Who Dreamed up the Idea of the Browser Anyway? The truth is that the grand-daddy of them all is MOSAIC, developed at the University of Illinois.  At what point did MS believe that Internet Explorer was or would become an integral part of the operating system?

A critical issue in the case is who approached whom about dividing up the web browser market.  Did Barksdale of Netscape approach MS, or did Microsoft propose to Netscape that they carve out separate market niches?

What is the evidence available to the the DoJ in making a case against MS?  How will the evidence be turned into a strategy?  Can notes from  a meeting of MS and Netscape clear the air? Was that meeting a set-up?   The DoJ case and Government Strategy.  Did Netscape have a chance in forming a strategic partnership with America on Line, or was MS' OS monopoly too great a lure to overcome?  Does the government have a case?  Be careful of what you put in writing, even electronically: In the age of email, human memory is no longer an issue.  Microsoft takes a a poke, then another poke at the the lead prosecution economist.

The MS defenses:
    Where is the harm?
    Does the DoJ case make sense from the standpoint of U.S. policy toward our international competitors?
    Live vicariously, take in the defense on the web.  Does this man seem like the richest person in the U.S?
  Do two wrongs make a right?