5 years ago today... Microsoft feels the heat as trial begins

20.10.98: Microsoft is a bullying company that has used Windows as a weapon to try and destroy Netscape in a battle orchestrated by Bill Gates. This was the case presented to the judge by the US Department of Justice (DoJ) as the landmark anti-trust case against the software giant got underway yesterday. During three hours of opening arguments, barristers for the DoJ set out to prove Microsoft had broken anti-trust laws to gain a monopoly over operating systems, and then used that power to try to break rival company, Netscape.

20.10.03: Who'd have thought that five years on and we're still waiting for a conclusion to the EC's investigation of Microsoft, as well as some other private cases, mainly in the US? It has been documented thoroughly elsewhere but Microsoft was convicted as a monopolist. Day two of the DoJ trial saw Netscape's Jim Barksdale take the stand, we later had the spectacle of Bill Gates himself testifying and eventually, after several appeals, Microsoft was given a slap on the wrist. It was billed as the battle of giants - name two more powerful institutions than the US government and Microsoft - but was it really? Some important lessons were learned and it is perhaps glib to say that the law firms employed were the only winners. But it is hard to see what's changed in the industry.