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Title: Trust on Trial by Richard B. McKenzie ISBN: 0-7382-0481-1 Publisher: Perseus Books Group Pub. Date: 10 April, 2001 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $17.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.15 (13 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: A Careful Analysis
Comment: Anyone who has followed the Microsoft trial has to be impressed with the skill and flair of the Government's legal team (and less than overwhelmed with the performance of Microsoft's defense lawyers). But putting such professionalism aside, many thoughtful people have misgivings about the Antitrust Division's attack on Microsoft and the trial court's sweeping and conclusory findings. Richard B. McKenzie's Trust on Trial: How the Microsoft Case Is Framing the Rules of Competition is an informative book on the Microsoft case. Professor McKenzie makes noteworthy points about monopoly behavior and the fluidity and competitiveness of the computer industry. He offers an interesting analysis of the reasons why Microsoft gave away its Internet Explorer browser for free, as well as anecdotal insights into the companies and key players involved. He also reminds us that the heart of an antitrust case like this one is that consumers have suffered antitrust injury, of which he sees little or no evidence. That said, Trust on Trial is not an easy book to read for anyone not steeped in economics or antitrust. Readers must endure a number of scholarly discourses on management theory and political science, at least some of which could have used an editor's careful hand. In addition, some points are treated more lightly than some readers might prefer. For example, while McKenzie casts doubt on the validity of the so-called "applications barrier to entry," he could have strengthened his point by several concrete illustrations. As another, the competing views at trial of Microsoft's dealings with its developers regarding Java are hardly mentioned. On balance, you have to want to read Trust on Trial to get something from it. If you do read it, you will get useful insights into the lawsuit and the role of antitrust in today's technologies. And you will be better poised to analyze the next Microsoft battlefield-no, not the remedies phase or the appeals process, as important as they will be-but all those private antitrust class action lawsuits brought by plaintiff's lawyers just waiting to move billions of dollars from Bill Gates' pockets to their own.
Rating: 5
Summary: powerful insights on every page
Comment: The technological revolution should be causing a fundamental reevaluation of the government's role in the economy. Whether that reevaluation takes place, or government policy stays rooted in 19th-century understanding will be determined for some time to come by the Justice Department's case against Microsoft. For a accessible and lively account of the issues involved and what is at stake, I can think of no better book than Trust on Trial by Richard McKenzie. Is Microsoft a monopolist? The Justice Department says yes based on considerations that were thought relevant when the Sherman Antitrust statute become law in 1890. McKenzie makes a compelling case that these considerations no longer provide useful guidance to antitrust policy. Microsoft may have a dominant market share, but it certainly is not acting like a monopolist. Monopolists are suppose to restrict output and raise price, but Microsoft has done exactly the opposite. McKenzie explains how the network and "lock-in" effects that the justice department argues Microsoft are using to exploit consumers have rendered traditional notions of monopoly obsolete. Instead of these effects allowing microsoft to exploit consumers, they explain why competition in the software industry, and other technology industries is more intense than ever and why this competition, which is enormously beneficial to consumers, leads to firms that temporarily dominate their industy. And the only hope these firms have for prolonging this dominance is by not behaving like a monopolist. In addition to providing powerful economic insights, McKenzie also points to the real motivation driving the Microsoft case, and it has nothing to do with protecting the consumer. The justication for antitrust action is to protect the consumer by protecting competition. Unfortunately, in reality the motivation has more often than not that of protecting competitors who find they can do better by influencing politicians than by satisfying consumers. This certainly seems to be true in the Microsoft case, and McKenzie pulls no punches when laying out the evidence. It should be emphasized that this book is not a puff piece for Microsoft. McKenzie has no financial or emotional stake in Microsoft's successes of failures, and he points to the blemishes and warts on Microsoft's behavior. McKenzie's motivation seems to be nothing more than a desire that sound economic analysis be used to determine what is best for the consumer--something that should be the dominant motivation of the Justice Department, but which obviously isn't. A great book. Enjoyable and informative.
Rating: 5
Summary: Fascinating View of Microsoft Propaganda
Comment: Mr. McKenzie's piece on the Microsoft monopoly is amusing if factually biased and tendered towards Microsoft.
Considering all legal disputes in regards to Microsoft's guilt are a moot point, the nature of this works is to try the legal system to deflect attention from Microsoft's anticompetitive behavior. These circumstances lead one to wonder what the class status of a lawbreaker is such that it can argue that it is in fact the law that is incorrect, not the behavior.
This title is a fascinating lobbying piece and a valid historical reference of Microsoft Propaganda in the Antitrust Years.
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Title: Winners, Losers & Microsoft by Stan J. Liebowitz, Stephen E. Margolis ISBN: 0945999844 Publisher: Independent Publishers Group Pub. Date: 01 March, 2001 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: Antitrust and Monopoly: Anatomy of a Policy Failure by Dominick T. Armentano, Yale Brozen ISBN: 0945999623 Publisher: Independent Institute Pub. Date: 01 January, 1996 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: Antitrust: The Case for Repeal by Dominick T Armentano, Dominick T. Armentano ISBN: 0945466250 Publisher: Ludwig Von Mises Inst Pub. Date: 15 April, 1999 List Price(USD): $9.95 |
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Title: World War 3.0 : Microsoft and Its Enemies by Ken Auletta ISBN: 0375503668 Publisher: Random House Trade Pub. Date: 09 January, 2001 List Price(USD): $27.95 |
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Title: Competition Policy: Theory and Practice by Massimo Motta ISBN: 0521016916 Publisher: Cambridge University Press Pub. Date: 01 February, 2004 List Price(USD): $50.00 |
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