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Technology Stocks : MSFT Internet Explorer vs. NSCP Navigator
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To: John Donahoe who wrote (13451)10/21/1997 4:41:00 PM
From: Gerald R. Lampton  Read Replies (2) of 24154
 
>>Yes I agree. However I fail to see why this is such a big deal.

The big deal is whether the practice violates the Consent Decree. That's it. We don't even get to the question of whether it's a violation of antitrust law.

>>So what if MSFT stops the practice I see no significant impact on their sales.

Not only do I see no significant adverse impact, I think it could be a positive for two reasons: (1) all the OEMs and resellers who don't want to upgrade their Windows offerings because they don't want to hassle with Internet Explorer would have one less reason not to upgrade, and (2) if they actually charged for Internet Explorer, the price of Windows could be reduced, further bolstering OS sales, and Internet Explorer could generate some sales of its own. The need for Internet Explorer to generate its own sales would also have positive effects on the internal Microsoft process of allocating research and development resources, both within the department responsible for IE and between IE and other Microsoft products.

This, of coourse, assumes people actually want Internet Explorer. The DOJ allegations suggest that people don't want it.;)

>> CNBC presented this as a major hit on MSFT. I don't understand why this is so.

I guess it's a "hit" in the sense that it restricts Microsoft's marketing autonomy to some extent. But these demands are mostly trivial and are things Microsoft should be doing anyway as a matter of good business practice. So, I agree that this is not nearly as big a deal as it might appear at first glance. That's why I really don't think it's a battle Microsoft should be fighting.
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