> Oddly enough, when Microsoft lost its cases’ innovation didn’t end. What did decline after the settlement of the DOJ and EU trials was Microsoft’s browser mar

> Oddly enough, when Microsoft lost its cases’ innovation didn’t end. What did decline after the settlement of the DOJ and EU trials was Microsoft’s browser market share — a fact which some commentators would have you believe is a complete coincidence and nothing whatever to do with governments forcing Microsoft to stop being an abusive monopolist. Huh? I mean, it was a coincidence. Internet Explorer peaked in 2003, not because of the 2001 antitrust settlement, but because Firefox came out in 2004 and then Chrome came out in 2008. The government didn't create Firefox or Chrome, nor is there any reason to believe that Firefox or Chrome wouldn't have been developed or become popular absent action from the government. Or we might even say that if it wasn't coincidence, then that's because of a pattern where slow-moving governments often only try to regulate antitrust in the tech industry by the time the specific issue has ceased being relevant.