Stardate 20010921.0552 (On Screen): In the Microsoft antitrust suit, Windows XP is not the issue. The issue is Microsoft's changed
licensing practices. Antitrust law is not intended to protect competition (a fact some people find surprising) and it does not actually make monopolies illegal (which surprises even more people); its intent is to prevent a company who has a monopoly from using that power to subvert market forces and gouge its customers. The new Microsoft licensing which is scheduled to go into effect in October is a blatant use of monopoly power to raise prices. In the guise of "rationalizing" licensing, the effect will be to raise Microsoft's revenues without relation to a change in Microsoft's products, which is a blatant violation of antitrust law.
(discuss)
