With the government appearing to have quieted its on-again, off-again antitrust investigation of Microsoft Corp., a San Francisco group is trying to rally a campaign against alleged monopolistic activity by the software giant.
By Wednesday, more than 600 people had emailed NetAction in support of a plan the watchdog group announced Monday to counter what it alleges are continued Microsoft transgressions.
"The response has been tremendous," said Audrie Krause, a longtime activist and executive director of San Francisco-based NetAction. "They're saying, 'Thank you for doing this. It's about time.'"
Microsoft controls about 90 percent of the PC operating-system market and is an increasingly potent player in office applications and server technology. In the past 18 months, the company has moved aggressively to become the dominant force in Internet-related software.
The company has been a repeated target of federal antitrust inquiries since 1990, when the Federal Trade Commission launched an investigation into the company. As a result of that scrutiny, Microsoft signed an agreement in 1994 to cease certain anticompetitive practices in the sale of computer operating systems and in its dealings with licensees. Among other conditions, Microsoft agreed to stop tying the sale of MS-DOS to the sale of other Microsoft products.
The government has since probed Microsoft several times, including ongoing monitoring of its activities in the browser market. In 1995, the government forced Microsoft to scrap a US$2.1 billion proposed buyout of Intuit.
Krause contends, though, that the government has gone "soft on Microsoft" and failed to inhibit fundamentally monopolistic practices that are hurting consumers, not just competitors. In particular, she alleges Microsoft is stifling innovation by engaging in predatory pricing and the acquisition of competitors.
"If things keep going on down the path we're going, in another five or ten years we'll have another AT&T or Standard Oil - one company in charge of the market," said Krause, a longtime watchdog of high technology and utility companies.
Microsoft could not be reached for comment.
Krause is urging concerned citizens to subscribe to her electronic newsletter, "The Micro$oft Monitor," to educate themselves about the issues, and to email their concerns to the antitrust divisions of the Department of Justice and the FTC. The addresses are set up to accept consumer complaints.
Krause intends to use the Web as a tool to reach a wide audience and stimulate far-flung debate.
"There are lots of things people can do with a minimal investment of time," she said. "I see this as a long-term campaign - I want to get people talking about the issues."
Allen Weiner, an industry analyst with Dataquest in San Jose, doubts the campaign will have much impact.
"The Internet is not at a point where there will be a direct cause between stirring up a grassroots effort and things happening (as a result) on the other end," Weiner said. "I'm not trying to be a pessimist, just a realist."
Weiner noted that, on the other hand, Microsoft will probably stay in the sights of antitrust investigators, and that the company certainly wouldn't welcome the negative publicity.
