Chrome OS: The ghost of Netscape rises to haunt Microsoft
Google's Chromebook announcement couldn't have been more timely, for its irony. Yesterday, during Google I/O, the company gave Chrome OS its big official debut and set June 15 as launch date for the first Chromebooks -- from Acer and Samsung. Today, Microsoft antitrust oversight ends -- a decade after an appeals court upheld most of the claims against the company while throwing out a remedy threatening breakup into two entities. Chrome OS and Microsoft's U.S. antitrust problems are strangely linked, as the ghost of Netscape rises from the grave to haunt the company cofounded by Bill Gates. Google couldn't have successfully developed Chrome OS, if not for government oversight.
The U.S. Justice Department and 20 states filed their antitrust case against Microsoft on May 18, 1998. The filing followed failed settlement talks stemming from a 1997 trial. The government and Microsoft differently interpreted a 1995 antitrust settlement, regarding integration of additional features into Windows -- namely Internet Explorer. For Microsoft, feature integration was a crucial issue. The company enhanced Windows' appeal to businesses and consumers by adding on more stuff. More immediately, Netscape was working on a strategy that would turn the browser into a rival platform. Developers would create applications for the browser instead of operating systems like Windows.
