Microsoft and antitrust – necessary evils?

Kelly McNeill writes: “There’s a kind of fuzzy thinking that is used to justify Microsoft’s stranglehold on the computer and information technology industries. By refusing to weigh the heavy costs that Microsoft has imposed on us all — lost innovation, impoverished inventors, wasted time, frustration, lost data and the resultant bankruptcies — the supporters of Microsoft appear to be wearing blinders. The cheerleaders only look at the few good things about Microsoft, and the pile of money it has acquired, and used that as the basis for their conclusion that Microsoft is pure and innocent, harmless and beneficial. After all, Microsoft has been incredibly financially successful, right?”