BILL GATES, the world鈥檚 richest man, shrugged off last week鈥檚 preliminary
finding by US district judge, Thomas Penfield Jackson, that his software
company, Microsoft, had abused its dominant market position by harming
competitors. In a statement, he described the announcements as 鈥渏ust one step in
an ongoing legal process鈥�.
Indeed, observers of the US Department of Justice鈥檚 antitrust case against
Microsoft don鈥檛 expect a final ruling until next spring at the earliest. Appeals
could drag the case on still further. 鈥淵ou鈥檝e got possibly the two largest
litigants in the world up against each other,鈥� says Mark Owen, a solicitor with
Harbottle and Lewis, a London firm that specialises in technology law. 鈥淚 can鈥檛
see either giving in.鈥�
As Microsoft鈥檚 share price falters there is speculation that the behemoth
will eventually being forced to break up into smaller 鈥淣anosofts鈥�, each
overseeing part of the company鈥檚 present business. Other possible penalties
include fines or even restrictions on the way in which Microsoft sells it
products, for instance, prohibiting the 鈥渂undling鈥� of free software into other
packages.
Advertisement
Judge Jackson struck another subtle blow against Microsoft鈥檚 hegemony last
week: his findings were released as a WordPerfect document, using software from
the rival company Corel.