Arguments for and Against the Microsoft Juggernaut

You’re absolutely right that all kinds of people are getting tired of Microsoft’s attitude [“Microsoft’s Hard-Line Stance in Suit May Misfire With Public,” Jan. 5]. As a Windows 95 consumer, I too am getting tired of Microsoft.

I’m getting tired of not having any other option in this “free” market. I’m also tired of Microsoft presenting the dominance of Windows 95 as if it came about by the free-market choices of the consumers. I’m tired of Microsoft defining itself as the unique source of “market” in America, as if whatever Microsoft does constitutes an actual result of free-market dynamics.

No, Mr. Gates, “free market” means that I, the consumer, have had my say. And I don’t feel like I have ever been asked.

How popular would Windows 95 be if there were actual choice in the operating system for Intel chips?

Bill Gates has done everything in his power to avoid having to confront that question. That is not what I call succeeding in a free marketplace. That’s what I call consumer coercion. And I, as a consumer, do feel coerced.

I’ve had enough. As a software consumer, I’m ready to welcome the government lawyers into this story. I’m ready to let Ralph Nader and Joe Klein have some say in software development in America.

Technology is such a vitally important part of my life now as a consumer, I don’t want to let Microsoft run that part of my life as they see fit. Which is what they have acquired the power to do through their corruption of what the free market means in America.

I look to the government now to protect my role as an empowered consumer in our so-precious free marketplace.

PATRICIA SCHWARZ

Pasadena

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It seems to me you are overlooking an important perspective.

I feel certain there are many individuals, like myself, who have used Microsoft products for years, have been well-served by them and, because of the quality of these products, have welcomed Microsoft’s continued growth.

To me, from that perspective, the action of the Justice Department seems ill-directed and counterproductive in that it attempts to prevent the delivery of a superior product in a superior manner.

It may interest you to know that the Microsoft browser actually opened the Internet for me. I tried Netscape first; it was unreliable. Then I tried the Microsoft product; it worked. From a practical standpoint, then, the Internet was not accessible until I switched to the Microsoft browser, which has proven to be very useful and very reliable.

In my experience, Microsoft delivered the goods; Netscape did not. That’s the point. That’s the only thing that matters to me. This relentless pursuit by the Justice Department is simply wrongheaded.

It makes no sense for the government to pursue a course of action that will, as a practical matter, make it harder for the consumer to get the better product.

JESSE ZELLNER

Lynchburg, Va.

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When I first hooked up to the Internet two years ago, my Internet provider gave me only one “choice” in an Internet browser. One.

Now that we finally have a real choice in Web browsers, certain parties have seen fit to scream foul, “monopoly.”

Funny, no one was crying foul then.

Monopoly indeed!

NILS MYERS

South Pasadena

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As president of an independent software company who is familiar with Microsoft’s products, works with Microsoft and competes with Microsoft’s Consulting Services Division, I strongly disagree with the notion that Microsoft is somehow a detriment to the industry or to consumers.

In fact, Microsoft has been and is a catalyst and major reason our industry has been so successful and continues to enjoy phenomenal growth.

Microsoft is in the business of selling operating systems. Internet Explorer is an integrated part of the operating system and provides a core set of operating system components that would limit third-party software capabilities if the components were not included in the operating system.

Unfortunately, the Justice Department wants to limit Microsoft’s ability to integrate new features such as Internet capability into Windows. This would hurt companies like mine if that were allowed to happen.

I am apprehensive about our government’s current actions, not for Microsoft or what this may signify to our free market, but what consequences these actions hold for the future of software development.

STEVE ROBINSON

President

Panther Software

Hermosa Beach