Is Microsoft good, or just lucky? Both, it’s clear. The company knows to cut its losses; the Caldera settlement pre-empted a trial that would have taken place in the wake of the federal antitrust case, with findings of both fact and law that Caldera’s attorneys could exploit. But Microsoft has been blessed, too, with consistent public support; in a poll last month, 63 percent opposed a breakup of the company. In the absence of a consumer anger, and lacking forthright political backing by the computer industry itself, the government has motivation to settle, says Randal C. Picker, director of the law and economics program at the University of Chicago law school. Noting the silence of Silicon Valley, he says, “If you think we’re in the post-Microsoft era, this tells you that we’re not. Microsoft still matters.”
