A Three-Way Breakup Doesn't Go Far Enough

Looks like Judge Jackson is leaning toward breaking up Microsoft, as has been reported widely and analyzed to death. I find it anticlimactic, though, given the growing acceptance of Linux, and my own increasing disinterest in (sometimes hostility to) corporate computing. As for consumer computing, the cut-down-PC Internet device will be responsible for the next wave of adoption, and Linux is kicking ass in that market. (And why not? When margins are that razor thin, paying nothing for 85% of your software architecture is the bees knees.)

I'm more interested in the MS breakup for the possibility, however unlikely, that it will serve as a symbolic obstacle to the corporate dominance of everyday life. I'm not going to hold my breath that anyone will interpret it this way, but one has to have hope.

But now I find that Judge Jackson's plan (break them into three pieces: IE, Office, and the rest) makes little sense. It isn't nearly punitive enough, and it leaves a far too powerful chunk undisturbed. Jackson's three-way plan does nothing to impede MS's ability to subvert -- err, continue subverting -- open standards like TCP/IP, DNS, XML, http, lightweight XML protocols, etc.

It addresses the problems of 1994-1996, but we need a solution for 2000-2003. Perhaps Jackson is as short on imagination as he is long on courage?

An alternative remedy more to my liking: first, divide all of their products into 'consumer' and 'enterprise' piles (sure, some things are 'tweeners, so you'd have to make some hard, perhaps arbitrary choices). Then break each of those piles into at least two smaller piles: one for Operating Systems (and OS-like facilities) and one for applications. While not God's own categorization, it's doable, elegant, and would make it damn hard for them to continue colluding in any one market segment, or across multiple market segments.

The chutzpah of MS has always been its desire to be Palm-Nintendo and Sun-IBM all at the same time. The alternative remedy I propose would not only break the tools of their monopolistic abuse but also the breathtaking arrogance that lead them to that abuse.

If we're going to remedy the situation, let's do it right. Let's show other monpolistic-wannabes what we'll do to them.