Re-framing Windows: The Durable Meaning of the Microsoft Antitrust Litigation

There is a larger lesson from the Microsoft prosecution, as well. Taking on monopoly fIrms that are important to the economy is no easy task. The very exercise of private power that leads public enforcers to intervene remains available to make victory difficult and to re-frame even successful public enforcement efforts. While acknowledging these difficulties, the durable meaning of Microsoft must also include an understanding that the use of public power to control private power is at the core of antitrust's objectives; and that employing such public power staying one's hand-is ultimately a political, as well as a legal, act affecting not only our economy, but also the balance of public and private power in our society.