Readers find MS anticompetitive

Even if it has a lot to offer the PC marketplace, Microsoft (MSFT) is on the verge of eliminating competition and undermining consumer choice, readers indicated in the latest NEWS.COM poll.

The bundling of Microsoft's Internet Explorer into the software giant's Windows operating system is a move many readers hailed as one that adds a new degree of functionality and convenience to computing, and likely will revolutionize the future of OS development.

Nevertheless, 61 percent of poll respondents questioned the move's impact on the free market and voted in support of the Justice Department's charges. They agreed with the DOJ that Microsoft's efforts to dominate the browser market by offering Explorer free to all Windows users could result in an unfair monopoly.

"It has been a while since antitrust laws were used for the benefit of consumers and consumer choice. This may be one of the best examples of these laws being used for the good of technological advancement and consumer interests," wrote Mark D. Slosberg, president of Net Information Systems. "The issue is predatory pricing and eliminating choice, and the Justice Department is taking a strong and important stand. Make Microsoft's products compete in the marketplace!"

Indeed, some respondents tossed around references to "Big Brother" when opining on Microsoft's attempt to extract itself from antitrust suspicion by claiming that Explorer is merely part of its OS and that Windows users are under no obligation to use it. Of the 39 percent who voted against the DOJ's action, many objected to Bill Gates's heavy-handed effort to make Explorer the default browser for PCs. Some argued that Explorer is but an inferior copy of Netscape's Navigator, the browser Microsoft seeks to supplant.

However, some poll respondents felt that the DOJ chose the wrong battle for taking on Microsoft, arguing that incorporating a browser into an OS is an innovation that has been a long time coming. Many objected to what they see as government intrusion into efforts to set a new standard for the PC market.

"Of all the things to beat up on Microsoft about, I can think of few that are more harmful to the end user than this one if it is codified into law," wrote Craig Cline, editorial director of Seybold Publications. "To tell any OS vendor that it can't build additional functionality into an OS--where Web browsing really belongs--runs the risk of...impeding the natural evolution of the browser into the desktop and vice-versa, which most folks view as a good thing."