ANYONE WHO HAS watched Microsoft Corp.'s anti-competitive behavior in recent years is bound to feel some nervousness about U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly's endorsement of the Justice Department's antitrust settlement with the software giant. Microsoft has a monopoly in the market for desktop operating systems, and, as demonstrated throughout this case, it has abused its power in that market. The Justice Department took a significant risk in settling the case as it did; the future restraints it has garnered on Microsoft's conduct could well prove inadequate to the task of ensuring a competitive software industry. A few years from now, Judge Kollar-Kotelly's rejection of pleas by state attorneys general to impose further sanctions will look like a foolishly missed opportunity if Microsoft proceeds to gobble up still more nascent markets -- as it did the market for Internet browsers -- that pose challenges to the dominance of Windows.
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