mivox - 11:10 pm on Apr 29, 2002 (gmt 0)

not sure if I'd really want to equate "public interest" with "popular demand"
Not to mention the often large gap between the public's best interest (product choice, quality and value) and a corporation's best interest (profit, profit and profit).

I don't buy the argument that Microsoft carries the health of the US stock market on its shoulders, although if they did, a serious market "correction" on that count would probably be well in order. It's not in anyone's best interests to have all of the US economy's eggs in one basket.

I also don't buy the idea that curbing agressively anti-competitive practices on the part of the current desktop software market leader is going to irreparably harm either the stock market or the computer industry. If Microsoft were such an indisputably superior, high-quality company, wouldn't market forces have ensured their success without them having to resort to threats and coercion to ward off competition?

They've already been found guilty of illegal anti-competitive practices, so that issue is no longer in dispute...