Forum: only the names have changed

Thanks for Robert Glass’s excellent column, “Everything Old is New Again” (May 1998, p. 17). I agree with most everything Glass says. My favorite characterization of the IT industry is “back to the future.” My disagreement: The government’s pressure on IBM was instrumental in creating business opportunities for DEC, HewlettPackard, and others. The government did this directly, by forcing IBM to be more open on its specs and by forcing the company to divest its network operations business. But, perhaps more importantly, indirectly, by distracting IBM management from the business. It is difficult to underestimate how much management time, attention, and energy is used defending against such a large lawsuit. My forecast for U.S. vs. Microsoft is a replay of IBM. Starting from a very narrow legal claim, the government will bog Gates down in discovery and ancillary litigation, then negotiate a consent decree reducing Microsoft’s monopoly in some sectors and force it to be more open regarding internetworking. The final result will be a new wave of competition, spurring instability and uncertainty, which, as an IT manager, I don’t look forward to. Fortunately I’ll be retired by the time the consent decree takes effect, unless my time forecasts are way off. I take this occasion to mention I also appreciated Communications’ other articles. Please keep it up. Richard Hill Geneva, Switzerland