Infoworld's April 20th issue has an interesting column by Bob Lewis on the 
MicroSoft and the DOJ.  I suppose the entire text can be found at 
www.infoworld.com, but some of the salient points are:

"Antitrust laws kick in when significant competition does not exist in a 
market. . . . The notion that the operating system marketplace is 
competitive is a fantasy.  Antitrust laws apply to this situation."

"Internet Explorer is an application, not an OS function."

". . . even free, Netscape costs more than Internet Explorer."

"Microsoft isn't being penalized for its success.  Should it lose in 
court, Microsoft will have been penalized for violating the consent 
decree it signed, as well as the antitrust laws of this country.

Microsoft's existence depends on the enforcement of intellectual 
property laws.  Just like you anc me, it has to obey the others, 
too - it doesn't get to pick and choose."


Just some food for thought.  I'm not advocating Lewis' position.

Jim Phillips                            Manager of Information Systems
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