Word: browser
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...visions pits social planner against the market system. In May 1998, twenty states charged Microsoft with monopolistic foul play. The thematic centerpiece of their suit--with multiple spin-off charges--was that Microsoft leveraged its power in the operating systems market to aggressively increase the market share of its browser, Internet Explorer. Round One opened in District Court, the honorable Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson presiding. It closed to the brazen bell of his finding of fact on Halloween. The date was eerily appropriate for the 207-page rant for several reasons--ghoulish economics, the monstrous presumptuousness of a philosopher king...
...benefit consumers never occur for the sole reason that they do not coincide with Microsoft's self-interest." Even more devastating, Jackson found that in its rush to make life tough for its competitors, Microsoft was actually willing to diminish the quality of its own products. Bundling a Web browser into Windows 98 did not benefit consumers, as Microsoft claimed. Rather, Jackson found, it slowed down the operating system, increased the likelihood of a crash and made it easier for "malicious viruses" to find their way from the Internet onto our computers. Ouch...
...appeal process. "Microsoft gets friendlier audiences from here on," notes Kovacic. The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, which would review Jackson's decision and remedy orders, is the same one that slapped the judge down last year when he ordered Microsoft to offer Windows 95 without the Internet Explorer browser. The Supreme Court is more of a wild card, but its current pro-business tilt suggests the government may get a skeptical hearing. But neither is likely to overturn Jackson's findings of fact...
...Microsoft's troubles in perspective. Since the government filed its antitrust suit 18 months ago, the company has won the Web-browser war, revenue growth has accelerated and earnings have been rising 10% per quarter. Put another way: Bill Gates' company has had a great year four times a year, even with the Feds breathing down its neck. Little wonder that the stock doubled in that same 18 months--the fourth such double in the past six years...
...browser wars are a good example. Netscape owned the market just two years ago. Microsoft, late to the Internet game, threw vast resources in that direction and now accounts for 64% of browser usage. Jackson's ruling means that Microsoft's capacity to assault a problem like that will probably be diminished in the future. But nothing is certain. The battle has just begun. Appeals could take years, and in the meantime the post-PC world may emerge in glory and render the judge's concerns moot. Do you want to miss another double...