States To Microsoft: You're Still Evil

As the five year anti-trust oversight of Micrsoft begins to draw to a close, it seems that several states are not quite happy with the results and are asking for an extension of the Federal oversight of the software giant. 10 states filed a brief in federal court claiming that Google, Mozilla and AJAX pose no threat to Microsoft's monopoly in the OS and browser markets, and therefore the requirements of the anti-trust ruling have not been met. The states are asking that the oversight of Microsoft be extended for another five years to give potential competitors more time to develop products and services that could actually compete with Windows and Internet Explorer.

In regard to the browser market, Ronald Alepin, an advisor that frequently testifies for parties fighting Microsoft in court, had this to say about Mozilla's Firefox:

Firefox has yet to reach a level of penetration and use that Microsoft's own internal measures indicate is necessary for survival and for the all-important ability to influence developer choices... With a market share of less than 20%, Firefox does not have the influence to promote the adoption of alternatives to standards or extensions advanced by Microsoft.

Alepin went on to say that Apple's OS X is far too weak to compete with Microsoft in the OS environment:

In spite of the advantages of arguably superior products and missteps by Microsoft, Apple has been unable to raise its share of the worldwide installed base of PCs, hovering near 3%,

All-in-all, it seems that these states are just not satisfied with the competitive environment of the markets that Microsoft currently dominates. I have a tendency to agree with them. I'm not satisfied either. Don't get me wrong, I like Microsoft (ok, I really don't like IE... but who does?), but how much better could they be if they actually had competition to push them to try harder? I would love to see a truly competitive environment, where several software makers compete for consumer attention. That's when we'd truly start seeing innovation, when we could start demanding the features we've been looking for.

However, it's not all MS's fault. Why won't Apple open up their OS to operate on hardware other than their own? I'm sure there would be plenty more people that jump on board if they didn't have to shell out for a new comp. As long as mom and pop can still buy Windows PCs for $600 or less (regardless of quality), they will. If given a cheaper alternative though, I think they'll jump on board. All the Linux programs are starting to catch up and become more accessible, but since they are open-source, they don't have the marketing power behind them to really grab the attention of the consumer. We've seen a jump in the Linux market though this year with the emergence of the super affordable PC with Linux out of the box.

Overall, I agree with the idea that MS controls too much of the market. I agree with the oversight extension... with one caveat. Please put some pressure on the other software markers to step up their game or maybe provide development supplements. But don't expect the market to change on its own, because as we've seen over the past five years, the market needs a bit of a push to change itself.

US states slam Google, Firefox as no match for Microsoft [Computerworld]
[via: Slashdot]