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DOJ asked to stop MS monopolization of browser market
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Info-Policy-Notes | Newsletter available from listproc@cptech.org
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INFORMATION POLICY NOTES
October 27, 1997
More than 1,500 consumers, businesses, professors and high
technology experts write the US Department of Justice
supporting actions to stop Microsoft from monopolizing the
market for Internet browsers.
Fmi: James Love 202.387.8030 | love@cptech.org
Consumer Project on Technology | http://www.cptech.org
Today the Consumer Project on Technology (CPT) presented the U.S.
Department of Justice (DOJ) with a letter signed by more than 1,500
consumers, businesses, professors and high technology experts, asking
the government to stop Microsoft from monopolizing the market for
Internet browsers. The letter states:
Microsoft should not be permitted to drive
Netscape and other products out of the market
by offering the Microsoft Internet Explorer (MSIE)
for free; and Microsoft should not be permitted to
bundle the MSIE with its operating system, or
integrate the MSIE with the operating system in ways
that are unavailable to other firms.
The full text of the letter is on the Internet at
http://www.essential.org/antitrust/ms/browserletter.html (no period).
The letter to DOJ was circulated on the Internet for several weeks
prior to the DOJ announcement of its Antitrust action against Microsoft
for violations of a 1995 consent degree.
The current DOJ antitrust action against Microsoft addresses some
but not all of the issues raised in the letter. DOJ is asking the court
to prevent Microsoft from requiring computer manufacturers to install
Microsoft's Internet Explorer on new computers, and to make it easier
for consumers to remove the MSIE once it is installed.
A key issue in both the litigation and the petition to DOJ concerns
Microsoft's attempts to integrate the MSIE into its Windows operating
system. Microsoft's new active desktop for MSIE4.0 provides very deep
integration with the Windows 95 operating system. The current Windows
95 file manager (now called the Window's Explorer) is replaced by the
browser, making it unnecessary for consumers to launch Netscape or any
other browser to view Web pages. Microsoft says it plans to make this
integration mandatory for Window 98, the version of Windows that will be
shipped next year. CPT and others are concerned that the MSIE will have
unequal access to undocumented aspects of the Windows operating system,
making it increasingly difficult for competitors to match the
performance or functionality of the MSIE.
At present Microsoft is spending perhaps hundreds of millions of
dollars to develop and promote its MSIE, which it gives away. By
integrating the MSIE into Windows 98, so that you cannot buy Windows
without MSIE, and by guaranteeing universal installation of its browser
on all new computers sold with the Windows operating system, Microsoft
is seeking to monopolize the browser market.
CPT and others believe the browser market is a particularly
important application, since it acts as a platform for many other
software applications and information services. After Microsoft began
offering its MSIE for free, there has been large reduction in the number
of firms who offer alternative browsers. Today Netscape is the only
firm currently spending a significant amount of money to develop a
competitive product. If Microsoft succeeds in driving Netscape and
other firms from the browser market, Microsoft will be in a position to
exercise enormous control a wide range of standards for Internet
publishing and electronic commerce.
The letter to DOJ says that consumers benefit from competition,
particularly from greater innovation and more consumer choice. For
example, the letter expressed concern that the lack of current
competition in the browser market, plus the predatory pricing by
Microsoft, has limited consumers choices for features of browsers that
would enhance consumer privacy, or permit consumers to better manage
advertising or other commercial content.
The letter sent to DOJ said the issue of predatory pricing was:
"not a general complaint about free software or even promotional
offers," but rather a specific complaint about a particular practice
which concerns Microsoft's efforts to "extend its current OS monopoly
power to the platform for a new generation of Internet applications."
The current DOJ litigation does not specially address the issue of
predatory pricing of the browser.
These and other Microsoft issues will be discussed at a November 13
and 14 Conference in Washington, DC, hosted by Essential Information.
Information about "Appraising Microsoft's Global Strategy" is on the web
at: http://www.appraising-microsoft.org/ (no period).
Fmi: James Love 202.387.8030; love@cptech.org
Consumer Project on Technology
http://www.cptech.org
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Background documents about the Microsoft Antitrust case:
DOJ's has a number of documents from the 1995 court Microsoft case on
the Web at:
http://www.usdoj.gov/atr/cases3/micros0/micros0.htm
One of the better documents about the current case is the Supplemental
Memorandum to Civil Action 94-1564, apparently filed on October 20,
1997, titled, "Memorandum Of The United States In Support Of Petition
For An Order To Show Cause Why Respondent Microsoft Corporation Should
Not Be Found In Civil Contempt," which is at:
http://www.usdoj.gov/atr/cases3/micros2/1237.htm
Microsoft's press office has some information on the Web at:
http://www.microsoft.com/corpinfo/10-decreeq&a.htm
See also http://www.essential.org/antitrust/microsoft
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