Microsoft finishes cross-examination of Fisher

Economist Franklin Fisher, the final government witness in the antitrustcase against Microsoft Corporation, wrapped up his cross-examination today,stating that "'Where do you want to go today?' is going to be wherever Microsoft wants to take you." Fisher says that Microsoft's monopoly of thePC operating system business gives it an unfair--and illegal--advantage topush other technology on a unsuspecting public. He did agree, however, thatconsumers haven't yet been hurt by Microsoft actions.

"During most predatory pricing campaigns you could say consumers benefit:they're getting lower prices. It's what happens apart from that you have toworry about," he said. Fisher suggested that Microsoft could charge whatever it wants for Internet Explorer once it finally crushes Netscape.

He also offered up some interesting comments about companies such as AppleComputer and Netscape, which have alleged that Microsoft has tried to destroy their products. In both cases, Microsoft says that the companieswere themselves to blame, either because of the technical inferiority oftheir products or bad marketing.

"That's like saying an attempted murder at gunpoint should not be considered a crime because it was shown the victim was going to die ofterminal cancer," Fisher said.

Meanwhile, the written testimony of Richard Schmalensee, dean of MIT's Sloan School of Management, the first Microsoft witness, was released bythe court this week. Schmalensee is expected to take the stand later thisweek. He says that consumers have benefited from Microsoft's low prices andthat the integration of Internet Explorer with Windows is "pro-competitive," not anti-competitive.

Schmalensee says that Microsoft should be held to a different standard than powers in other industries because of the way that computer industry leaders can be ousted so quickly by smaller and faster competitors. Sloanuses WordPerfect as an example: The product was once the market leader andan industry powerhouse but it's now considered an also-ran.

Schmalensee summarized his massive 324 page testimony with the followingbullet-points:

Microsoft will begin its defense Wednesday