Microsoft and the Antitrust Debate

THE Department of Justice is pursuing Microsoft on antitrust grounds, and a number of conservative writers and organizations have gone to Microsoft’s defense, including the Wall Street Journal, Jack Kemp, Adam Thierer of the Heritage Foundation, Thomas Sowell—and national review. They proclaim that the free market is a better protector of consumer welfare than government; and their visceral distrust of government activity is welcome in this post-the-era-of-big-government-is-over era. But for antitrust cases, which are complex and fact-specific, the head is a better guide than the viscera.

The charges against the Justice Department’s lawyers are familiar—and all the more persuasive because government lawyers have certainly been guilty of such things in the past. They are accused of arrogant industrial planning, micromanaging, trying to second-guess the market and pick winners, supporting Microsoft’s competitors rather than competition, and going off on a leftward regulatory lurch. However, even if all those charges against the Justice Department were true, there could still be a case against Microsoft that would benefit consumers.

DO

About the Author

Daniel Oliver

Featured Tags

Manage following

Microsoft

Antitrust Law

Department of Justice

Bill Gates

Internet

THE Department of Justice is pursuing Microsoft on antitrust grounds, and a number of conservative writers and organizations have gone to Microsoft’s defense, including the Wall Street Journal, Jack Kemp, Adam Thierer of the Heritage Foundation, Thomas Sowell—and national review. They proclaim that the free market is a better protector of consumer welfare than government; and their visceral distrust of government activity is welcome in this post-the-era-of-big-government-is-over era. But for antitrust cases, which are complex and fact-specific, the head is a better guide than the viscera.

The charges against the Justice Department’s lawyers are familiar—and all the more persuasive because government lawyers have certainly been guilty of such things in the past. They are accused of arrogant industrial planning, micromanaging, trying to second-guess the market and pick winners, supporting Microsoft’s competitors rather than competition, and going off on a leftward regulatory lurch. However, even if all those charges against the Justice Department were true, there could still be a case against Microsoft that would benefit consumers.