Hart Nat Hentoff David Horowitz Arianna Huffington Marianne Jennings Michael Kelly Mort Kondracke Ch. No company seems to pose those dangers so starkly today as Microsoft. Yet, the case against Microsoft still isn't made, even after Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson's denunciation of the company. The trouble is that Jackson's opinion doesn't show how Microsoft's brutal competitive behavior has hurt consumers.
Companies compete, after all, to defeat their rivals.
The social harm arises only if consumers suffer from excess economic power. Despite months of bad trial publicity and Jackson's scathing decision, most Americans still doubt the government's antitrust case. A Gallup poll taken after the ruling found that, by a 67 to 16 percent margin, people have a favorable view of Microsoft. Asked whether the company should be broken up, respondents objected by 54 to 35 percent. Popular skepticism isn't just ignorance.