Unless the software is for robbing banks or hacking the Pentagon's databases, the government should be uninterested. The annals of government history are filled with sad tales of tax cuts that made the economy shrink when they were supposed to make it grow and changes in the interest rate that came too late and disrupted rather than smoothed economic curves. Any interference in the software industry will have enormous effects on the U.S. and world economies. We run on information. Hardware sales are tied to software cycles, often depending on their increasing demands for a stimulus to their growth.
Governments disrupt such trends and plans at their peril.
The government has now added another element to the case, stating that it is now looking at claims that Microsoft overprices its Office Suite. The federal government doesn't have a clue what it costs to produce, maintain, or support millions of users, particularly in a competitive market where other alternative futures, rather than current competitors, may be the real issue. It is time for the customers to have their say. Nearly every one of us uses Microsoft software. We need to make it clear that we expect Microsoft and the DOJ to resolve their differences and get on with it.