[ Thanks to ac for this link.
]
Here’s the out that President George Bush needs to drop the
government’s pursuit of antitrust sanctions against Microsoft: a
poll by one of Canada’s leading newspapers shows that most
Americans are glad that Microsoft is not being broken up, but most
do say that Microsoft should pay some sort of price for
anti-competitive activity in the operating-systems field.
“Fifty-eight per cent of respondents said it is good news for
consumers that Microsoft is not being broken up; just 25 per cent
said it was bad news, while the remainder didn’t know or didn’t
have an opinion.”“Heavy Internet users, defined as those who log more than 10
hours a week on-line, supported Microsoft even more strongly, with
69 per cent saying the reversal of the breakup order is good news
for consumers. By contrast, among respondents who do not use the
Internet, 52 per cent said the reversal is good news.”“According to the poll, 46 per cent of Americans think the U.S.
Department of Justice should simply drop the case. Eighteen per
cent said the government should continue to pursue a court order to
break up Microsoft. And 29 per cent said the government should
pursue the case of Microsoft’s monopoly over operating systems, but
not seek a breakup or restrictions on the company’s ability to add
features to its operating system.”