Possible Resolutions to the Microsoft Case

We conclude our analysis by briefly examining the benefits and detriments of four different courses of action that the court could take with respect to Microsoft. These include:

1. avoiding any sort of government intervention,
2. ruling that Microsoft must alter its selling conditions so that OEMs have the option to install Windows without Internet Explorer,
3. splitting Microsoft into an operating system company and an applications company, and
4. making personal-computer operating systems into a regulated legal monopoly.

In addition, we point to the lack of technical knowledge among policymakers and people in the legal system as a contributing factor to the confusion and controversy surrounding the Microsoft antitrust case.