US, States File Microsoft Anti-trust Suit

Monday, May 18, 1998 by Dave Winer.

A quick response to the government press conference that just completed in Washington.

They're looking at the web browser, seeking a preliminary injunction offering Microsoft the choice of unbundling MSIE or also including Netscape and one other browser. Knowing the history, I see the government as tilting the table in Netscape's favor as unnecessary and unfair. From my point of view, Netscape is a very large company, leveling the playing field is great, but tilting it in favor of a large company that set the terms of competition with Microsoft is not an acceptable solution.

On the other hand, the government says that Microsoft's presence and business practices limit innovation. I think there's no doubt that this is true. When they look at application software they will see that it used to be a vibrant and diverse market, and the practice of bundling suites of applications first wiped out diversity, and then concentrated market share in Microsoft's suite.

More later as the dust settles, please watch www.scripting.com for pointers.

Dave Winer