"I have been thinking about the three-prong Microsoft penalty recently handed down by the European Union anti-monopoly judge," the reader wrote. "The penalties were: a monetary fine, the requirement to sell a version of Windows XP without a bundled multimedia and the requirement to disclose OS code to server application developers. I think EU's ruling is a good thing but with Microsoft's army of lawyers, firing off a fusillade of appeals, I doubt it will have much effect. Justice delayed is justice denied.

"Having everything you need as part of the operating system is very convenient," the reader continued. "It certainly reduces the complexity of using a PC and saves from having to buy extra software to do the things you want to do. I like the ability to view images directly in WinXP. If you want to do image editing, however, you still need to buy a separate imaging program. But there is no doubt that Microsoft's inexorable expansion of the monster OS that ate (and is continuing to eat) the world of independent software developers has reduced our choices for the PC.

"I regret that the U.S. ruling proposing to break Microsoft into an operating system company and an application development company was overturned," the reader continued. "I believe that the enormous might of Microsoft is difficult to comprehend and is not appreciated by most people. Efforts to control its pervasive power have not been nearly enough. I think that Microsoft should be divested into seven, not two, totally independent companies:

1. client operating system software company (WinXP),
2. server operating system software company (Server2003),
3. embedded operating system software company (WinCE),
4. application software company (MSOffice, Visual .Net/Studio),
5. hardware company (Xbox, etc.),
6. media company (MSNBC), and
7. internet company (MSN).

"How often do you have to see the inane MSN big blue butterfly ads on TV to realize that something must be done to rein in the ‘Jolly Blue Giant ho, ho, ho!’" the reader concluded.