Is 1.4 billion enough harm?

By Lewis A. Mettler, Esq.

Take the cost of IE as it is bundled in 98. I have estimated that this cost to the consumer is about $70 (for the upgrade version).

Now take all of the Microsoft customers running various versions of DOS, Win3.1, 95 and even NT that do not want to be forced to buy any application they may not want.

Count all customers who do not have modems.

Count all customers who do not connect with networks.

Count all customers who have more than one machine and only one of which is connected to the network (any network).

Count all customers who prefer Netscape.

Count all customers who would rather pick and choose their applications.

Count all customers who believe they should be able to vote with their dollars.

Add them all up. How many do you get?

I estimate 20,000,000 but their could easily be 2 or 3 times that many.

20,000,000 times $70 is $1,400,000,000. Or, 1.4 billion dollars.

This is the direct financial harm being caused by Microsoft because of the bundling of the OS and IE. Do you have better numbers? Do you have better estimates of the number of Microsoft customer who (if given the choice) might not buy IE at all or pick another application?

If it is three times as many customers, the harm is 3.2 billion dollars.

(no free downloads here...)

And, how many new systems where the cost is $140 per customer. How many new systems will be sold over the life of 98? How much is that going to cost consumers? Another billion or so? How much? Offer some estimates. Offer some numbers.

Lewis A. Mettler, Esq.(Attorney and Software Developer)