Updated: October 9, 2003

It is my opinion that Microsoft is unfairly monopolizing the computer industry, and this will eventually lead to a lack of competition and innovation in the industry, including the domination of Internet access by one company.

And the Supreme Court agrees with me. Although Microsoft US District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly decided not to punish Microsoft, it is important to note that Microsoft is a convicted illegal-monopoly that has been found to have violated Federal-law for decades. All of the convictions were upheld in every court, (even the Supreme Court refused to question Microsoft's convictions).

As examples of how Microsoft's domination of a market results in a lack of innovation, consider that now that Microsoft has illegally removed competition in the browser arena, Internet Explorer is becoming stale and neglected. C|Net reported that Microsoft in May of 2003, indicated it was ending development of its standalone browser in favor of devoting resources to its new operating system, code-named Longhorn, which will have built-in Web browsing capabilities. In June, Microsoft said it was ending development of Internet Explorer for the Mac.

By using Microsoft's Internet Explorer software you are assisting Microsoft in strengthening their current stranglehold on the desktop operating system market.

Microsoft, already a convicted illegal-monopolist, continues to illegally use its dominance in operating systems and its massive corporate resources to eliminate its competition in the web browser market.

Microsoft even said as much themselves:

"It seems clear that it will be very hard to increase browser market share on the merits of IE 4 alone. It will be more important to leverage the OS asset to make people use IE instead of Navigator." -Microsoft Manager Christian Wildfeuer (from an internal memo dated 02-24-97)

The following examples illustrate the ways in which Microsoft is using anti-competitive and illegal practices in order to gain control of the Internet server and browser markets:

1. Microsoft squashed competition in the Internet server and Internet browser markets by bundling MS Internet Information Server with new versions of WindowsNT and MS Internet Explorer with Windows 95/98, a violation of anti-trust laws.

2. Although Microsoft is promoting its "Active X" as an "open standard", Microsoft still retains ownership, and therefore control, of the technology. With this control comes the ability to change it on a whim, and thus position its own Internet products to take advantage of these new changes well before any competitors have access to them.

3. Prior to the DoJ action suit against Microsoft, they were actively bullying computer OEMs and Internet service providers into featuring ONLY Microsoft's Internet software in the products they pass on to their customers. This is done by charging higher licensing fees for companies that feature competitor products on an equal footing with Microsoft's products or not allowing participation in Microsoft marketing programs if a company also markets competing products.

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