Spoke with Murphy I spoke with Kevin Murphy this morning about his Microsoft testimony. His position is that Microsoft's monopoly position is so strong, neither Java nor Netscape posed a real threat to it. Therefore, Microsoft did not cause their demise because they were doomed anyway.

Sadly he's on firm ground here. Microsoft owns the desktop, and mandatory unbundling of middleware would freeze the Windows OS. This doesn't increase welfare.

Murphy also said that forward looking regulations end up creating as many problems as they solve, and this has been true in telecom and utility regulations. Since the operating systems in the future will hopefully be very different from what we use today, it's hard to think of rules that would stay relevant.

The consensus at Chicago is that Kottler-Kelly will OK the proposed settlement, with hopefully fewer loopholes. I also expect more anti-trust prosecution against Microsoft in the future.