Rear Windows

WHEN the Federal Trade Commission first began investigating Microsoft for antitrust violations in May 1990, Windows 3.0 did not yet exist and the Internet was an obscure academic curiosity. The Justice Department took over in 1993 and has changed complaints so frequently that we are apt to forget which shell hides the pea.

The court battle relies heavily on implausible gripes from Microsoft rivals. America Online, the Internet-service provider, feigned fear of Microsoft Network even though nearly ten times as many subscribers use AOL and its CompuServe arm to dial up the Internet as use MSN. A claim by the CEO of Oracle that Digital Equipment had to be “pressured” to abandon the bad idea of marketing $500 network computers was even more ludicrous. In any case, all the insinuations about secret deals that somehow never reached completion are beside the point. The government has not charged Microsoft with attempted collusion. And terms like “pressuring” and “bullying” have no meaning in antitrust law or economics.

About the Author

Alan Reynolds

Alan Reynolds, National Review’s economics editor from 1972 to 1976, is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute and the author of Income and Wealth.

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Department of Justice

WHEN the Federal Trade Commission first began investigating Microsoft for antitrust violations in May 1990, Windows 3.0 did not yet exist and the Internet was an obscure academic curiosity. The Justice Department took over in 1993 and has changed complaints so frequently that we are apt to forget which shell hides the pea.

The court battle relies heavily on implausible gripes from Microsoft rivals. America Online, the Internet-service provider, feigned fear of Microsoft Network even though nearly ten times as many subscribers use AOL and its CompuServe arm to dial up the Internet as use MSN. A claim by the CEO of Oracle that Digital Equipment had to be “pressured” to abandon the bad idea of marketing $500 network computers was even more ludicrous. In any case, all the insinuations about secret deals that somehow never reached completion are beside the point. The government has not charged Microsoft with attempted collusion. And terms like “pressuring” and “bullying” have no meaning in antitrust law or economics.