One little, two little, three little Microsofts.

"Nonsense, said Microsoft's lawyer, John Warden. What the government proposes, he said, 'will go a long way to insure that Microsoft is the one company in the world that won't win, can't win, the next round of competition' in the high-stakes, ever-changing world of computers and software."

Whine whine whine. Here's a rough translation:

"our products rely on our monopoly for their success, and won't stand up on their own merit, so if you break us into pieces, we'll die."

What else would they base this claim on? I'd love to hear any plausible argument to the contrary.

You can't say that MS was just doing what it needed to in a market economy. They repeatedly claimed that there was a "Chinese Wall" seperating software and OS divisions, when in fact there wasn't.

Of course, when the legal precedent comes into play, things get a little more complex. Do we want the DOJ regulating the software industry? Probably not.

On the other hand, Microsoft could have easily prevented such regulation long ago, had it decided to cooperate.

Their monopoly power was like a cookie jar on the shelf. Always there. Always sooo tempting.

Chomp.

Bill, you ate the whole Key Lime pie! Now mom is pissed!