Wrestling with the monopoly

“Unlike the wider network where there is genuine competition, the desktop has not been subject to open standards, and this has had a deleterious effect on competition and innovation. This is the most important outcome of the European Court’s recent decision to uphold the European Commission’s judgment against Microsoft. While the mainstream press focused on the record fine imposed on Microsoft, the more engaging and decisive part of the judgment was the Commission’s insistence that Microsoft publish its proprietary protocols to enable interoperability.”

“Thanks to the EU, and contrary to much media speculation from both sides of the water, we can now hope for a positive expansion of innovation and competition on the desktop. All the evidence suggests that control of all aspects of the market by one company is neither healthy nor conducive to innovation or competition. If all network protocols and “extensions” to network protocols were treated as trade secrets, there would be no networks and no meaningful shared protocols. “