Why would Bill Gates choose to challenge the federal government and twenty attorneys-general over the Web browsers Picking a fight with powerful government regulators can only be justified for one of two reasons: a legitimate fear that Microsoft will be drastically reduced in value if the regulators get their way—or a reasonable prospect that Microsoft will dramatically increase in value if it gets its way.
The best way to protect and enhance Microsoft’s value is to transform its current 90 percent share in the opening system market (yesterday’s computing market) into an equivalent share in the access to the Internet market (today’s computing market).
The key tool enabling Microsoft to move from one market to another is what the regulators call the "first-screen requirement". Microsoft requires that all computers using Windows be shipped so what the first screen consumers see is exactly the screen that Microsoft wants them to see. The consumer has no ability to tell the manufacturer to change the first screen in any way.
Without the first-screen requirement, consumers might well decide to tell the manufacturer not to change the first screen and enjoy the "Windows experience" just as Microsoft hopes. On the other hand, they might just as easily allow or ask the manufacturer to change the first screen so that they can enjoy the "Compaq experience", the "IBM experience" or even the "Netscape experience".
Microsoft’s first-screen requirement is like a car manufacturer with a 90 percent market share telling its car buyers that they can replace the car radio, but only if they do the installation all by themselves. A few hardy souls may make the replacement, but the rest of us would probably decide that the original radio was good enough.
With the first-screen requirement, Microsoft’s browser does not have to be the best to achieve virtually total market share. It merely has to be "good enough" to prevent everyone other than the hardiest of the users from changing to another browser.
With the "good enough" browser and the resulting market share, Microsoft would not only have control over users’ access to the Interact, but would be able to use its dominance in that market to be ready for the next market, whatever it may be. With stakes that high, it is not surprising that Bill Gates and Microsoft have decided that a fierce battle with federal regulators is worth the risk. According to the last two paragraphs, we know that