“The DoJ and the states will want all of the problems identified
by Jackson in his findings to be addressed, which means that any
remedies will have to operate in several areas, with the overall
objectives of forcing Microsoft to compete fairly in the OS market,
and injecting some credible competition. A Break-up of the company
might be called for, but the most likely break-up into three units,
of OS, applications and Internet, would still leave the OS company
with a monopoly of its market. So break-up couldn’t be the only
measure to be imposed.”
“Jackson thinks that Microsoft holds a monopoly, and that
the nearest things to competition it has, the Mac, BeOS and Linux,
can’t shift it. So the remedies the DoJ and states will call for
here will likely have to inject competition into the market, with
some form of opening up of the Microsoft source code being one of
the most likely contenders….“
“But here’s a thought. Caldera, the inheritor of DR-DOS and its
lawsuit portfolio, will be kicking off its own Microsoft antitrust
trial in the new year. If that one goes badly for Microsoft, then
surely some kind of unified settlement is possible. Caldera gets
access to source as part of its winnings, and a DR-DOS-Linux
combination reawakens competition? It could happen.”