It's almost closing time in the Microsoft antitrust case, and the Justice Department is taking its last licks at the software king - arguing before a federal judge that Bill Gates and company are more interested in securing a monopoly than creating innovative materials which customers demand.
A senior counsel for the New York State Attorney General, Steve Houck, argues that Microsoft's 91 percent share of the Intel-based PC operating market proves Microsoft has and wants to secure a monopoly. "And, there is no end in sight," he told federal judge Thomas Penfield Jackson.
Houck also called on Jackson to examine the credibility of Gates and question why the Microsoft founder/chief did not testify in person in the case.
The government's job is to convince the courts Microsoft didn't just create a monopoly but also leveraged its market dominance illegally to move into other markets. Part of the government argument involves charges that Microsoft has among other things required ISPs, content providers, and computer makers to promote its Internet browsers while limiting distribution of Netscape's rival browsers. The browser issue triggered the antitrust action in the first place.
And even if Jackson issues a series of rulings in this case within the coming months, the case could be tied up in appeals for years afterward.
