dems and e-mail, once available only as separate products, are essential ingredients of an operating system. Any system without those functions would be incomplete. And in an environment where "Internet access" is very important browser software is no less essential. That is why IBM and Sun Microsystems, like Microsoft, have packaged browsers with their operating systems. That is also why IBM, Hewlett-Packard, Compaq, and other computer manufacturers have bundled both Internet Explorer and its principal competitor, Netscape Navigator, with Windows 95. Like a competitor to assure Internet users maximum flexibility. Netscape has itself tied a wide range of other software products, for example e-mail, security systems, and graphics to its browser. Such decisions, argues Microsoft, are better left to computer companies than to government lawyers. Even if competitor protection were a legitimate objective of the law, there is no reason for the government to interrupt Microsoft's situation. Rather than badgering Microsoft, the DOJ ought to be thanking the company for challenging Netscape's "near-monopoly" in the sale of browsers and consumers should be grateful to Microsoft for causing Netscape to reduce its price. Microsoft chief Bill Gates stated the question "Would the DOJ require the New York Times to eliminate its business section in order to protect The Wall Street Journal? Why should the answer to that question be any different if the Times were to sell its business section separately, or if the Times sold 90 percent of the newspapers in New York? Our antitrust laws were not intended to prop up competitors but to ensure that consumers benefit from the widespread availability of goods and services at fair prices." Therefore I truly believe Microsoft is not a monopoly.BibliographyBank, David. "Why Software and Antitrust Law Make an Uneasy Mix," The Wall Street Journal, October 22, 1997, p. B1.Gates, Bill., "Why the Justice Department Is W...
