3 ms·
First I don't think your Netscape on Mac argument holds up. The antitrust suit was about IE on Windows. "[...] the U.S. government accused Microsoft of illegal
by hundchenkatze 6y ago
First I don't think your Netscape on Mac argument holds up. The antitrust suit was about IE on Windows.
"[...] the U.S. government accused Microsoft of illegally maintaining its monopoly position in the PC market primarily through the legal and technical restrictions it put on the abilities of PC manufacturers (OEMs) and users to uninstall Internet Explorer and use other programs such as Netscape and Java." [0]
"The plaintiffs alleged that Microsoft had abused monopoly power on Intel-based personal computers in its handling of operating system and web browser integration. The issue central to the case was whether Microsoft was allowed to bundle its flagship Internet Explorer (IE) web browser software with its Windows operating system. Bundling them is alleged to have been responsible for Microsoft's victory in the browser wars as every Windows user had a copy of IE." [0]
I do agree that exclusive control may not be needed. However, Microsoft was engaging in other anti-competitive behavior. It's not like they're restricting Windows users to only use GitHub.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Microsoft_Corp https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Microsoft_Cor....
- theandrewbailey 6y agoThat's kind of my point. Microsoft didn't hold exclusive control over operating systems nor internet browsers, but got called a monopoly in those markets anyway, despite available alternatives. Yes, there was more to it than just that. They merely had a lot of control in the market and was doing shady things.