The Windows pricing, he added, can also be explained as a discount to increase sales and thus strengthen the Microsoft monopoly.

Bill Joy, another Sun executive, wrote in 1995 that "Java gives Sun a chance to break away from the Microsoft monopoly."

Another alternative to a Microsoft monopoly is a Netscape monopoly.

That doesn't prove that a Microsoft monopoly beats any alternative.

Is NASA concerned about extending what another branch of the Government terms the "Microsoft monopoly" into space?

Perhaps the key to eliminating the Microsoft monopoly is simply to explore the other options that exist for computer users.

In fact, many at the conference, while bemoaning a Microsoft monopoly, also hailed Linux's latest successes.

The Microsoft monopoly pays dividends to all users (like IE, for example)

In a statement, Netscape executives called the legal action an "initial step in loosening the choke-hold the Microsoft monopoly has on the computer industry."

But it does prove a Microsoft monopoly beats a Netscape monopoly, assuming the companies provide products of comparable quality.