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CNN Live At Daybreak

Wired.com Bureau Chief Answers Viewer E-Mail About Microsoft

Aired June 29, 2001 - 07:31   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BRIAN NELSON, CNN ANCHOR: We have been soliciting your e-mail questions on the Microsoft ruling, and we do have a guest to help answer those questions.

CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: That's right. He's Declan McCullagh, Washington bureau chief of wired.com.

Good morning, Declan, and thanks for joining us this morning.

DECLAN MCCULLAGH, WIRED.COM: Hi, there. Thank you.

NELSON: Let's get to the first question, Declan. It's from Matthew in Portland, Oregon: "How much money have the federal and state governments spent on suing Microsoft, and how much has Microsoft been forced to spend defending itself?" Any idea?

MCCULLAGH: It's a good question. I have an idea -- not an incredibly detailed one, though. This came up during the trial, and the best estimate at that time, before the appeals process started, was something maybe $2 million for the prosecution of Microsoft. A conservative group, Citizens Against Government Waste, has been trying to find out more details, but with limited success so far. The Department of Justice says they don't keep those kinds of detailed records.

In terms of defense, you've got to include things like Microsoft's lobbying costs, its public relations costs. Our guess would be maybe four or five times that, but this is just a guess. Microsoft hasn't told us either.

LIN: A lot of money, indeed. All right, a question here from David. He asks, "How will the Appeals Court ruling overturning Microsoft's breakup limit the availability and hurt the viability of non-Windows operating systems, such as MAC OS and Linux? Could this restrict consumers' choices and hinder competition?"

MCCULLAGH: Another excellent question. Keep in mind that the breakup is off the table for now, but it doesn't mean that it's off the table permanently. It could come back severe conduct restrictions, that is saying what Microsoft can and can't do. In the short term, I think what this means is that competitors like Linux, like other open-source operating systems, like OS, are going to have compete in the market. They're not going to be able to rely on the government to step in and try to weight the playing field one way or another. They're going to have to introduce better features, lower prices. They're going to have to be more reliable. There is no government help for them in the short term.

NELSON: Super.

LIN: And I'm going to have a court-ordered pronouncer on a lot of these different programs: Linux.

NELSON: Linux.

LIN: Linux.

Thanks, Declan.

NELSON: Our guest, Declan McCullagh, who is going to be back here in the next hour -- he'll be with us for a couple of hours, actually, to answer your questions about the Microsoft verdict.

LIN: That's right, and we will look forward to that. Thanks so much, Declan, for standing by this morning.

I'm such a geek.

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