Confused by the legal battle between the US Department of Justice and
Microsoft? Never fear: Netropolitan has your sources sorted. The DOJ believes
that Bill Gates鈥檚 decision to build his Internet Explorer browser into Windows
98 is an attempt to use the company鈥檚 dominant position in PC operating systems
to quash competition in the market for Web browsers. To find out why, read the
statements detailing the DOJ鈥檚 鈥渁ntitrust鈥� lawsuit at
http://www.usdoj.gov/atr/cases3/micros/ms_index.htm.
And catch Microsoft鈥檚 spirited defence at
http://www.microsoft.com/corpinfo/default.htm#doj. The court battle is
likely to be protracted, so watch these sites to stay up to date.
To see how the Net鈥檚 news services are covering the row visit
http://headlines.yahoo.com/Full_Coverage/Tech/Microsoft/ where the busy folks at
Yahoo are collecting links to the news reports covering the case. When the DOJ
announced its action, Microsoft鈥檚 stock price took a dive, knocking $10
billion off the firm鈥檚 market value. Watch how the ups and downs of the case
affect Gates鈥檚 wealth at the irreverent site
http://www.webho.com/WealthClock/.
Anyone who is curious about the history of market-shaking
antitrust suits pursued by the US government since 1895 should check out
http://www.stolaf.edu/people/becker/antitrust/antitrust.html.
Microsoft鈥檚 many critics include veteran consumer advocate Ralph Nader,
whose Consumer Project on Technology hosts pages on the Microsoft action at
http://www.essential.org/antitrust/microsoft/microsoft.html. Despite the
criticism, Microsoft still has lots of fans. The curiously named Committee for
the Moral Defense of Microsoft has its pages at
http://www.moral-defense.org/home.html
and is gathering evidence to back up its belief that the DOJ is wrong
to launch this legal action.
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