> The parallel she uses to make her case is the breakup of Microsoft, which she weirdly calls “the tech giant of its time” (Microsoft is still a tech giant), and holds as perhaps the last example when government went toe to toe with the technology industry.
> “The government’s antitrust case against Microsoft helped clear a path for Internet companies like Google and Facebook to emerge,” Warren writes.
In what way was Microsoft 'broken up'? The outcome[1] from that antitrust case seems to be that Microsoft had to publicly expose all of Windows' APIs to developers (no secret APIs).
If anything, the outcome of the Microsoft case seems to support non-intervention as AppGoogBook all flourished despite no serious breakup of Microsoft.
Sure, but Microsoft after the lawsuit was not the "Embrace, Extend, Extinguish" powerhouse from the 90s it used to be. They couldn't be, they couldn't risk another antitrust suit that might have real consequences. I think one could argue that Microsoft not being in full on domination mode created the opening that enabled all these other companies to thrive since they no longer had to deal with the extended existential threat of Microsoft.
Microsoft was going to be broken up, until the political landscape changed.
Even without the breakup, Microsoft was under heavy scrutiny and regulation as a result of the court case, which insiders say dramatically changed the company culture (for good or ill.)
It's funny how Microsoft isn't mentioned in the same breath as FAANG companies. It's in the top 3 companies by market cap, has a dozen billion-dollar businesses, does really well in enterprise, is aggressive in the cloud and hardware, has a large seat at the open-source table these days, and has a large set of older products that keep generating billions. If Apple is in there, why not Microsoft? Both are heavily concentrated in one area, pay similarly, have similar prestige. Is it simply because we don't know where to put the M in FAANG? Or is it because they aren't as big in the consumer space?
Microsoft is pretty big in consumer space as well - Xbox, Skype, Bing ...I think its Silicon Valley vs not in Silicon Valley thing. Microsoft is counted out because of not being physically located in SV. Thats my theory.
> “The government’s antitrust case against Microsoft helped clear a path for Internet companies like Google and Facebook to emerge,” Warren writes.
In what way was Microsoft 'broken up'? The outcome[1] from that antitrust case seems to be that Microsoft had to publicly expose all of Windows' APIs to developers (no secret APIs).
If anything, the outcome of the Microsoft case seems to support non-intervention as AppGoogBook all flourished despite no serious breakup of Microsoft.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Microsoft_Cor...