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Bush Not Interested In Breaking Up Microsoft
KAREN GULLO
Published: Sep 6, 2001
WASHINGTON - The Bush administration, reversing the Clinton White House
legal strategy against Microsoft, told the software manufacturer
Thursday it no longer seeks to have the company broken up.
The Justice Department also said it will not pursue the bundling issues
in its protracted antitrust suit against the software giant.
The agency is taking these steps to obtain ``prompt, effective and
certain relief for consumers,'' it said in a press release.
The release follows a judge's order for the two sides to produce a joint
status report by Sept. 14.
The government told Microsoft that it does not intend to pursue a
breakup and will drop the bundling issue to ``facilitate consultations''
in the joint report, the department said.
Microsoft spokesman Vivek Marma said, ''We remain committed to resolving
the remaining issues in the case.''
In trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market after the announcement, Microsoft
shares were down 73 cents a share, or 1.3 percent, at $57.01.
The government's about-face wasn't totally unexpected. At the time of
his confirmation hearings to be attorney general, John Ashcroft hedged
when asked repeatedly by senators about the government's commitment to
pursuing the lawsuit against Microsoft.
Ashcroft for the most part said that was among a host of issues he would
need to review.
On Thursday, his department said that since an appellate court agreed
that Microsoft illegally maintained a monopoly over the market for
operating systems, the government ``believes it has established a basis
for relief that would end Microsoft's unlawful conduct, prevent its
recurrence and open the operating-systems market to competition.''
Pursuing the tying claim would only prolong the proceedings, the
department said.
U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson, who originally heard and
decided the case, had ordered a series of restrictions against Microsoft
last year, then rescinded them soon after the case was appealed.
Among those restrictions, Jackson ordered Microsoft to divulge to
outside developers technical information about how its operating systems
interact with its software. Those developers would be able to pick apart
the computer code without cost to improve their understanding of it and
make their own products.
Microsoft also would no longer have been able to control what icons
would appear on the Windows operating screen when a user bought a
computer. A person buying a computer from a distributor such as Dell or
Gateway would have seen a desktop that looked nothing like the usual
Windows desktop.
Howard University law professor Andy Gavil said the restrictions could
affect the upcoming Windows XP operating system, which has been finished
by Microsoft programmers but has not yet hit store shelves.
``All of these little things really have to do with how XP is being
prepared and marketed,'' Gavil said.
On Thursday, the Justice Department said it will ask the court for time
to investigate developments in the industry since the trial concluded
and ``to evaluate whether additional conduct-related provisions are
necessary, especially in the absence of a breakup.''
Microsoft just rolled out the final Window XP code to computer
manufacturers. Some critics have charged that the rollout is evidence
that the company continues to use its dominance to muscle into new
markets.
Windows XP includes many new features that are currently standalone
products made by competitors, including a program for storing digital
photos and an instant messaging system.
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