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This fine has been dished out as punishment for the company's abuse of its monopoly and refusal to share key technical information with its competitors.

But is this really fair?

Well it can't be denied that Microsoft almost certainly has exploited its powerful monopoly of the desktop to squeeze even greater profits out of what amounts to a captive audience.

We all know that Bill's boys are very much focused on generating the maximum revenues they can while also fighting off competitors, using whatever weapons and tactics they can lay their hands on.

Hang on -- isn't that the way business is supposed to work?

Surely Microsoft would be delinquent in its responsibilities to shareholders if they didn't do everything they could to maximise the level of profits earned?

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And why should they have to disclose details of the inner workings of their products to competitors?

Hell, Microsoft have invested a very large fortune in the design and development of those products -- it's a bit rough to force them to hand over some of the results of that investment to companies who wish to take some of their market-share and profits isn't it?

Now, if you think I'm simply playing devil's advocate here, you're sadly mistaken.

Antitrust laws may sound like a great way to protect the public from evil monopolies but in reality, they're simply a way to protect the public from themselves.

Let's face it -- who gave Microsoft their monopoly of the desktop?

It was all those people who are now complaining that the company is abusing its position.

Hey people -- if you didn't want a hugely dominant supplier of PC operating systems and applications why on earth did you keep buying their products to the extent that they were able to achieve this position?

What's that?

You bought their products because they were the best tool for the job?

Then what's the problem?

Well the problem is that now it has an iron-clad grip on the market, Microsoft is no longer acting competitively, preferring to engage in practices such as forcing business customers to buy subscriptions to annual software update plans for which they get... well nothing actually.

Yes, Microsoft does need a slap upside the head for some of its outrageous behaviour, but you can't criticise it for being number one by a country-mile, there have always been alternatives to Microsoft's products.

The argument used by many folks is that the cost for users to switch from Microsoft to some other product is now prohibitive, therefore the company needs to be forced into benevolence by the law.

No, I'm sorry all you whiners. The problem is that you've been stupid enough to hitch your wagon to a single horse without any consideration as to the long-term effect this might have.

Microsoft does not have a monopoly -- there's nothing to stop anyone from switching to Linux or any number of alternative OSes and the applications that go with them.

Yes, such a switch will be hideously expensive in some cases -- but maybe people should have thought of that before they sold their soul (and IT department) to the devil by taking what was the cheap choice all those years ago.

So it looks as if Bill will have to put up with one less olive in his martini for a while, but let's hope that the magnitude of this fine serves as a timely reminder to the IT community that the obvious choice isn't always the best one when it comes to selecting computing platforms and applications.

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