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Is competition too important to be left to the market?
Are consumers better or worse off from Microsoft's dominance in the software business?
In September, one of the most important antitrust lawsuits in history will get under way in federal court. The United States Department of Justice along with 20 state attorneys general has charged Microsoft Corporation with anti-competitive practices including illegal "tying" of the Internet Explorer Web browser with the Windows operating system.
Microsoft defends its actions by saying that integrating Internet Explorer into Windows is in line with its history of enhancing its operating system. The DOJ argues that Microsoft sees the Internet as a threat and seeks to eliminate their Internet competition by freely distributing their browser, integrating it into their popular operating system, and using their market power to force distributors into agreements that favor Microsoft over its competitors. The entire detailed complaint is available online.
A number of prominent figures have lined up against Microsoft:
For most people who aren't paid by Microsoft's competitors, this case raises difficult questions. It is not just about whether Microsoft has the best software, or whether they make too much money. It is about government regulation of the economy. It is about whether consumers should choose which software to buy, or whether lawyers, bureaucrats, and politicians should decide what is best. Is it time to completely overhaul the antitrust laws that interfere with free markets, or do we need the government to preserve competition?
This Policy Spotlight highlights the ways that free-market intellectuals and policy advocates are addressing the issue. J.D. Tuccille's Media Spotlight looks at how the mass media is handling the same questions.
When you're ready to join the melee yourself, click over to the Spotlight Discussion Forum.
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Libertarian monthly Reason Magazine has created a Hot Issues page on the Microsoft case entitled Is Microsoft A Menace? It has links to information at Reason as well as legal resources, including the text of the court order that affirmed the stay of the injunction that allowed Microsoft to ship Windows 98 on schedule.
Reason contributing editor James DeLong discusses how The Goose With the Golden Egg Is Being Led to Slaughter.
In the January Issue, Virginia Postrel takes a look at Microsoft's rise to the top in Creative Insecurity.
Postrel looks at the myth of how the QWERTY keyboard beat the supposedly-superior DVORAK keyboard and how that example has been applied to this case and others in Pride and Prejudice. (For a more academic look at the topic of path-dependency and network externalities, see Stan Liebowitz's page.)
Cato constitutional scholar Robert A. Levy discusses the controversy over Microsoft Internet Explorer, antitrust tying agreements, and innovation in the software industry in Microsoft and the Browser Wars, Fit To Be Tied.
Antitrust Policy: Reform or Repeal? by Austrian economist Dominick Armentano outlines the economic issues behind antitrust enforcement and whether it aids or hinders competition in practice. Dr. Armentano's useful 1986 book, Antitrust Policy: The Case for Repeal is also available from the Cato bookstore.
Cato's Regulation Magazine focused on antitrust enforcement and policy in the Spring 1997 issue.
Miscellaneous resources also available from Cato:
A transcript of a recent breakfast conference entitled Technology Innovation: Competitors, Predators and Antitrust, with Timothy F. Bresnahan, Stanley J. Liebowitz, John E. Lopatka, Stephen E. Margolis, and Janusz A. Ordover, is available online. There is also an earlier conference on Economic and Legal Perspectives on Antitrust and Monopoly at the National Press Club.
The Independent Institute published another of Dr. Dominick Armentano's books, "Antitrust and Monopoly: Anatomy of a Policy Failure."
Techno Myths vs. Consumer Choice: Is Microsoft a Threat? by Stan Liebowitz and Stephen Margolis discusses the fallacy of protecting consumers from monopoly power by letting inferior products gain market dominance.
Heartland president Joe Bast declares antitrust to be a War on Virtue and Talent in his monthly Heartlander column.
Additional information on antitrust and regulation is also available from Heartland's Policy Fax service.
The February issue of The Free Market newsletter contains an article entitled Pile on Microsoft by Francoise Melese on Microsoft's rise to dominance in the operating system and application business.
In an older article, Mark Thornton discusses How Antitrust Ruined the Movies -- an example of antitrust enforcement that harmed the consumer.
The Austrian Study Guide contains a number of offline references to the Austrian economic perspective on antitrust.
Several interviews are available in RealAudio format from the Idea Channel.
Don Willmott, Executive Editor for PC Magazine, discusses his thoughts on Can Janet Reno Tame Microsoft?
In Killing Me Microsoftly, Robert Levy from the Cato Institute discusses the current battle between Microsoft and the government.
Atlas Economic Research Foundation senior fellow Deroy Murdock elaborates on what the government is doing by going after Microsoft in The Government vs. Microsoft.
For a different look at the issue, the Bionomics Institute relates their view of the "economy as ecosystem" to antitrust and the Microsoft case in Survival Rules.
An edition of their Vitamin B: Your Daily Dose of Bionomics column from last Winter compares Microsoft's attitude toward Washington to "Swatting at gnats."
Mackinac Center for Public Policy
In this Free Market Moment, Catherine Martin discusses how the market can eliminate anti-competitive practices. It is also available in RealAudio.
Donald Alexander's Dow Didn't Sue Powerful Competitors; He Outsmarted Them outlines how the "Dow Chemical Company founder faced and singlehandedly defeated a dominant German cartel."
Cascade Policy Institute provides this amusing little April Fools joke entitled Microsoft Strikes Back.
Arrogant Antitrusters by Donald J. Boudreaux, president of the Foundation for Economic Education, is from the August issue of the Freeman and compares antitrust cases to meddling in affairs about which you know nothing.
The Federalist Society provides their lawyers and law students with an annotated list of references on Antitrust.
In December 2004 this page was modified significantly from its original form for archiving purposes.
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