Microsoft has crushed dozens of smaller vendors and has kept some truly wonderful technologies from making it into the mainstream. A few years ago, I sold my beloved Macintosh to buy a PC running Windows, and I have never forgiven Bill Gates. But Justice must take a long view of what's good for the industry, good for the government and good for the Internet. Microsoft's real franchise consists of its operating systems. It's still a monopoly under a different guise.
Nothing is fixed.
Segmenting it would create two or three little monopolies instead of one big one. Look at how Linux did it for a workable model. The only way competition can return to the PC world is on a playing field that's level right down to the industry standards. Gates said in February that he'd be willing to take such an approach to settle the lawsuit. Now that appeals are on the way, the Justice Department should seriously revisit the issue.