Why Microsoft should win

Microsoft says it should be allowed to improve its products without interference from the government, and was in federal court in Washington on Monday pressing its case. Specifically, Redmond wants out from under a preliminary injunction against bundling Windows with Internet Explorer.

I hope Microsoft prevails.

Save the flames -- I recognize the need to do something about the Microsoft "problem," and the Essential Facility argument (with which Intergraph prevailed over Intel) has merit.

But I am opposed to federal judges deciding how easy it will be for me to use my computer. And that's what the real issue is: Ease of use, not whether Netscape should have life support applied to its browser business.

Integrating the browser with the graphical user interface -- whether Windows, Mac or some Unix half-breed -- is the future. If we want transparent communication and infinite networking, we need a mechanism to extend the desktop metaphor across the wire. TCP/IP gives us the protocol, Dynamic HTML and XML give us the user and data interface. And they should all be tied directly to the operating system -- something the OS vendor is in the best position to do.

Preventing Microsoft from building an integrated Windows and browser is wrong -- for customers, for the Internet industry and, of course, for Microsoft. The only company it would seem to help is Netscape. I think the price is much too high for what the marketplace will get in return.