Microsoft Antitrust with Harry First

Microsoft was the dominant technology company in the 1990’s, until it came under fire for anticompetitive practices. Internet Explorer was tightly coupled to the Windows operating system, which prevented Netscape Navigator–a competing browser–from reaching users on the dominant platform.

 

This episode is about antitrust–what businesses can and cannot do in the name of competition, what the impact of Microsoft’s legal battles in the late 90’s was, and how the law might respond to potential technology monopolies in the near future–such as Facebook, Google, and Uber.

Our guest Harry First is a professor of law at New York University School of Law. He wrote a textbook called “The Microsoft Antitrust Cases: Competition Policy for the Twenty-First Century”. 

Jeff