Word: browser
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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...
...competitors out of the market? One would think so, especially since the crux of His Majesty's edict is that "Microsoft effectively eliminated Netscape as a platform threat." But the charge holds up only in virtual reality, at best. Netscape still enjoys a comfortable 42 percent of the browser market and that figure will increase to a snugly hegemonic 58 percent after its acquisition by AOL is complete. Then again, Jackson's understanding of the word "eliminate" could just be more rich and nuanced than Webster...
Well, what about bundling Explorer with Windows in a blatant attempt to leverage operating system power over into the browser market? According to an appeals court, which in 1998 overturned Jackson's own injunction against the bundle, Microsoft's tying "combines functionalities ... in a way that offers advantages unavailable if ... [the products are] bought separately and combined by the purchaser." The appeals court is higher up on the judicial food chain than Jackson's district court and it did have three judges examine the issue, as opposed to only one. But that was last year. His egregiously embarrassing computer literacy...
...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...