Users Say Life Would Be OK Without Microsoft

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June 24, 1999 (12:26 PM EDT)

Users Say Life Would Be OK Without Microsoft

By Mo Krochmal,

NEW YORK -- As PC Expo wrapped up Thursday, show attendees here said the dependency on Microsoft in their workplaces could easily be replaced by others.

In a random poll conducted Thursday among corporate information technology workers, users expressed little loyalty to the Redmond, Wash.-based software maker in the antitrust case brought by the U.S. Department of Justice. That case was expected to complete the final day of the trial stage Thursday.

The Justice Department has charged that Microsoft abused its near-monopoly in PC operating systems to extend its dominance in the browser market.

A possible outcome of the trial could involve a breakup of the company, which has five high-tech operating units involved in the computer hardware, software, test and measurement, and telecommunications industries.

"That could be better for the software industry -- it would allow competition," said Kevin Lincoln, a technology specialist at Columbia University in New York. "It would allow smaller companies a chance to get into people's desktops."

Adam McKenna, a senior network administrator with IDT of Hackensack, N.J., said he would fear having four smaller companies with monopolies in their area. "What happens would depend on how it's split up," he said.

Microsoft's bigger problem is not the Department of Justice, but the Linux OS, said Henry Mullan, technical officer at Chase Manhattan Bank in New York.

"If Microsoft loses, it won't be a major issue," Mullan said. "It would open up the market to smaller companies that care more and pay more attention to detail."

If Microsoft is broken up, there will be others to fill in the gap, said Owen Long, the owner of the Doctor Data consultancy in Brooklyn. "There are plenty of people just waiting for it to happen," he said.

"There are 20 companies just waiting to get into their space," said Richard Lederman, a computer programmer at Credit Lyonaise Bank in New York. "And there would be four new Microsoft companies out there doing just what [Microsoft chairman] Bill Gates did."

Still, there are companies that rely heavily on Microsoft's products.

"Windows NT is our main infrastructure," said Brian Walker, the manager of data-center operations at NBA Properties in Secaucus, N.J. "We would hope the impact would not be that bad and the conversion could be done, but it would not be easy. For our purposes, NT has met our needs."

Walker said the company is looking at using Linux on the 100 servers it now has to support its 900 employees -- coaches and players not included.