ZDNet: Two monopolies for the price of one

“Why I really think breaking up Microsoft is a boneheaded
idea–at least if it is done the way the DOJ and states are
allegedly suggesting–is it won’t change the competitive
landscape one iota. In fact, I’d argue, it will likely kill off the
few remaining rivals Microsoft has, at least on the desktop suite
front.”

“Think about this, though. What is the first thing a Microsoft
Office company would likely do? Develop Office for Linux, Solaris,
AIX/Monterey, right?”

“The sole reason that Corel’s WordPerfect Office or Sun
Microsystems’ StarOffice have any shred of market share at all is
because they run on non-Windows platforms. Corel said recently if
its merger with Inprise doesn’t go through, it’s not sure it can
continue to do business. Is this a company that will survive
increased head-to-head competition with Microsoft? Sun talks up
StarOffice’s cross-platform capabilities as a major selling point.
Would StarOffice have much of a chance of success if the office
suite with 90-plus percent market share also ran on all the same
Unix and Linux platforms?”

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