Microsoft hasn't faced a legal challenge they couldn't handle in past with the exception of the United States v. Microsoft. Today, the Redmond company faces serious challenges to its existence as S. Korea and the European Community seem intent on having Microsoft pay a price that could tarnish the Microsoft reputation.
Microsoft created a monster during their US anti-trust trial when they claimed that Linux provided a competitor. Microsoft's attorney cross examined an expert witness and showed him a box of Red Hat 5.1. The expert had not heard of Linux and from that point Linux started to grow and mature.
Aside from the Linux challenge in the market, two other serious challenges loom on the horizon for Microsoft. If you have read the IBM's subpoena, then you understand how much contempt IBM has for Redmond. Now that IBM rid itself of the IBM PC company, it can challenge the nemesis it helped create in the early 1980s.
The second challenge doesn't have the public exposure it deserves. But with the probability of a civil war in Iraq and with his many detractors, George Bush could get caught up in the Microsoft mess. The hush over the Jack Abramoff and Ralph Reed connection might turn into a roar.
