Microsoft is in a bit of trouble. I set out to write a column about why we need a leader in the computer programming industry. That was until my Windows program froze, forcing me to rewrite my article. I have had enough of Microsoft failures.

U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson has made an excellent judgment that Microsoft is a monopoly and applicable to antitrust laws regulating monopolies. I'm hoping Judge Jackson will award punitive damages and maybe even a chainsaw to hack up the company for its violations in anti-trust business practices.

According to the judge's 1,000-page findings, Microsoft's violations of anti-trust regulations came with its business practices in the development of Windows95.

Netscape wanted to produce an upgrade of its Internet browser to create a program called Navigator that would run on Windows 95 and have an icon users could click on. Microsoft did not like the idea because it was planning its own version of an Internet browser: Internet Explorer.

Netscape and Microsoft had numerous meetings prior to the release of Windows95 in an attempt to make Netscape's Navigator an applications program that would run on Microsoft's Internet Explorer instead of being a separate browser. Netscape declined the unprofitable venture. Microsoft proceeded to withhold technical information needed for Window's Internet access until the release of Windows95, delaying Navigator's upgrade by a few months. Because of this, Netscape missed the valued holiday season.

Microsoft also dealt with Apple's Quick Time Player, an audio-video player that would play on both Apple and Windows95. Microsoft threatened to modify its tools to make them incompatible with Apple's.

Microsoft began, in 1996, to use a similar strategy against Sun's implementation of the Java technologies, which will work on any computer-based system.

Microsoft's interactions with Netscape, IBM, Intel, Apple, America On Line, and RealNetworks reveal a business strategy of inducing other companies to abandon projects that threaten Microsoft. Now with legal trouble, more competition spurred on by Java programming and a Windows operating system plagued with bugs, Microsoft is slowly taking a dive.

Unfriendly competition caused Internet Explorer and Navigator to be free programs. That was a big bonus for computer users.

One reason Microsoft has power is because half of Internet users use Internet Explorer. By changing my browser to Navigator, Microsoft loses some power and influence to control the Internet. If Internet Explorer controlled only 15 percent of the market share, other Internet industries would not bend to Microsoft interests. Pretty soon you would have many program options to choose from.

Not all fault belongs to Bill Gates. Either way Microsoft goes, I am sure Bill Gates has gotten more than enough monetary reward. I do not feel a need to stick with Bill.