It is the responsibility of DOJ to ensure that Microsoft does not use its OS monopoly to monopolize the market for applications. More needs to be done in this area. The unfolding drama in the market for Internet browsers is our immediate concern. The Importance of the Browser Market Today Internet browsers operate on top of the Microsoft OS to manage a large number of important applications which run over the Internet. In addition to providing the user interface for viewing and interacting with Web pages, browsers can launch new applications, such as streaming audio or video.
Independent developers write plug-ins and other applications that work with the browsers.
Microsoft correctly sees this as a threat to their OS monopoly. If there are several browsers in the market, it is more probable that the standards for browsers, web pages and various applications will be open, rather than proprietary. We are concerned that if Microsoft succeeds in bankrupting Netscape or driving Netscape from the browser market, by pricing the MSE at zero, Microsoft will exercise too much power in key areas of standard setting for Internet applications. We also believe consumers have suffered from the dearth of competition among firms that could offer competing browser products, if the prices for browsers were greater than zero. The predatory pricing of the MSE has also changed the functionality of browsers in important ways, particularly in terms of consumer preferences for privacy.