Washington Post: U.S., States Favor Plan to Split Up Microsoft

“The goal of a breakup proposal would be to tear down the
barrier to those entering into competition with Windows, sources
said. In his ruling, U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson
described the barrier as the absence of a cluster of companies
willing to write the software programs necessary to give a
potential rival enough of a following to challenge Microsoft’s
Windows monopoly.”

“This plan is meant to create one or two companies that could
sell the bundle of software programs necessary to spur competition
with the Windows operating system. The new company or companies
could either become a competing operating system or license
software to potential Windows rivals that now lack the programs
necessary to compete with Microsoft’s Windows.”

“Another suggestion from industry supporters of the
government case is that such a company might decide to write
programs for Linux, the free operating system available over the
Internet. That could turn versions of Linux into a viable
Windows competitor, some industry executives argue.”

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