Microsoft vs. U.S. Justice Department

Microsoft gets thrown for loss, but Netscape took worst beating.

Someone scored a victory here, although history is unsure who it was. Of course, the loser was Netscape, the former Internet wunderkind that Microsoft felt needed a cut in its air supply.

Microsoft was found to have abused its monopoly power in the PC operating system market by U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson, who at times was seen nodding off during the lengthy and mostly dry trial testimony.

The passion play continued as the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned Jackson’s ruling but upheld his “Finding of Facts” in the case. When it was finally all boiled down, efforts to split the company in two gave way to Microsoft agreeing to share APIs with third-party companies and to appoint a compliance oversight committee.

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Someone scored a victory here, although history is unsure who it was. Of course, the loser was Netscape, the former Internet wunderkind that Microsoft felt needed a cut in its air supply.

Microsoft was found to have abused its monopoly power in the PC operating system market by U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson, who at times was seen nodding off during the lengthy and mostly dry trial testimony.

The passion play continued as the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned Jackson’s ruling but upheld his “Finding of Facts” in the case. When it was finally all boiled down, efforts to split the company in two gave way to Microsoft agreeing to share APIs with third-party companies and to appoint a compliance oversight committee.

Reviews of the “punishment” were predictably mixed and heated, especially from open source corners. Some say the real contest may have been lead Department of Justice prosecutor Joel Klein against Microsoft chief Bill Gates. Pundits say that outside the documented legal issues the case was personal on many levels for those two. No word on the victor there either.

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