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In fact it had an extremely large negative impact on Microsoft. To know that, all you have to do is read / listen to [1] actual interviews from people that worked there through those days. It was very hard on the company and its employees.

The culture was forced to change substantially. Their behavior was monitored by the government for years after. They were no longer able to aggressively compete without chains on their strongest points of leverage. At a time when IE had conquered the browser market, they couldn't use that new monopoly point to attempt to crush Google as one example (which is exactly what they would have done in the late 1980s or early 1990s). It's the same type of restrictive blanket that was put on Intel by the US Government in exchange for allowing them to keep their monopoly.

[1] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/audio/2017-07-28/rich-barton-...



It may have been stressful for employees and Gates, but it was a slap on the wrist when compared to the dominant position the company had managed to attain. Most of the power they had gained they kept. Yes, they ended some of the more egregious practices like the per-processor fees, but they ultimately made it out relatively unscathed.




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