Word: microsoft
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Although it still claims its innocence on antitrust charges, the software giant Microsoft on May 10 presented Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson with an alternative remedy to counter the government's proposed breakup. Unsurprisingly, the company's solution placed unacceptably weak restrictions on Microsoft's future conduct and left open a number of loopholes that are likely to be closed by the government's plan. A remedy as narrow as Microsoft's will not do enough to dissuade the company from continuing its abuse of monopoly power--a stronger resolution to the case must be employed...
...Microsoft's proposal would prevent only some of the misconduct in which the company has been shown to have engaged. Most of the proposal deals with Microsoft's Internet Explorer software, which was at the center of the antitrust case. However, Microsoft has been found guilty of using its monopoly power in a wide range of areas, browsing being only the most prominent. Only three elements of Microsoft's proposal would restrict the company's actions in general ways: Microsoft would offer other software vendors timely access to technical information, would not withhold already-written software for other operating systems...
...course, the egos of self-made billionaires tend to be on a scale with their bank accounts, and the risk of ruffling a few feathers at the DOJ may not be sufficiently threatening to give Gates pause. But in light of recent developments, perhaps it should be: Microsoft's legal struggle with government lawyers has metamorphosed into something of a public relations contest, evidenced most recently by the appearance of Microsoft's counteroffer in Sunday's Washington Post, apparently "leaked" to the press days before it was meant to be released. The plan, couched in the company's most conciliatory...
...calculated risk in and of itself - one that government spin doctors may feel is worth the gamble, given their sense that Jackson is going to come down on their side. But they're not trading on an inexhaustible supply of goodwill: Public perception of the prosecution of the Microsoft case is not altogether favorable. Many feel it's been a colossal and futile drain on government resources and taxpayer money. And at this point, it's anyone's guess how the suit will finally end; the government is required to respond to Microsoft's counteroffer by May 17, and Judge...
Consumers, meanwhile, might be the only real winners in this case: Depending on the sentencing schedule, Microsoft officials may spend the next few months bending over backward for their customers and various contractors, trying to prove their good intentions. And Wall Street investors are circling Microsoft stock like so many vultures, waiting for a strategic dip that may never materialize...