It ultimately came to naught. IBM is far from a monopoly. But you know, technical change proceeds much faster than legal proceedings. As a result, I suspect that before this case is over, the character of the computer industry will be very different. George Stigler, my long-term colleague and friend, did the most over this period to investigate the actual operation of the antitrust laws, and he, like I, or I because of him, shifted from being a strong defender of antitrust in the 1950s to being a firm opponent of antitrust, believing that it was a law that did more harm than good by the time he finished his studies.
Monopoly is a real problem but it tends to be transitory, to be very short-lived in most cases.
The only ways in which monopoly can last is when it has government backing. We have a very interesting case coming right now. But there is a law just passed that would limit steel imports that will, in effect, make the American industry a monopoly in terms of the world competition. Dr. Friedman talked to us about the natural response of business to government regulation. It often proposes laws in its own self-interest which destroy the underlying basis of the whole private enterprise system.