GALLUP NEWS SERVICE
PRINCETON, NJ -- As a result of months of hearings in the lawsuit filed by the Justice Department against the Microsoft Corporation, Federal Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson last Friday issued his "findings of fact," which asserted that the giant software company is a monopoly that uses its power illegally to constrain competition. According to several Gallup polls over the past two years, in which the general public was asked its views about Microsoft and the lawsuit, Americans expressed mostly a favorable view of the company and its founder, Bill Gates, but were divided over whether Microsoft was a monopoly. Nevertheless, earlier this year the public rejected the notion that the company used illegal sales and business tactics to market its software, and in a poll completed this past weekend sided with the company rather than with the Justice Department in the lawsuit, and opposed any breakup of Microsoft into smaller companies.
The latest Gallup poll to include questions about Microsoft was conducted November 4-7 (with most interviews completed prior to the court's announcement), and it shows that two-thirds of all Americans had a favorable view of both the company and the company's founder and Chief Executive Officer, Bill Gates. The positive feelings were even more pronounced among the six out of ten Americans who are computer users, with 78% of this group expressing a favorable view of Microsoft and 72% a favorable view of Gates.
When asked specifically about the lawsuit, Americans sided with Microsoft rather than the Justice Department by a margin of 45% to 33%, with 22% expressing no opinion. In three previous polls asking the same question -- in November 1998, and February and March of this year -- the responses were similar. An internal analysis of the data from the most recent poll indicates that opinion may have shifted somewhat towards the Justice Department side of the case as this past weekend wore on, suggesting that polling over the next several weeks might reflect some change in this position as the publicity over the case sinks into the public's consciousness. There was, however, no apparent change in attitudes towards Gates and Microsoft over the weekend's interviewing.
Earlier this year the public rejected the notion that Microsoft used illegal sales and business tactics to market its software, although Americans were about evenly divided over whether the company was a monopoly. And in the most recent poll, Americans continue to oppose any breakup of Microsoft into smaller companies.
While the judge has not indicated what penalties, if any, the giant software company might be assessed, he could order that Microsoft be broken into smaller companies. But the current poll shows that -- at least before they have had a chance to review detailed news accounts of the findings of fact -- 54% of Americans oppose any actions the federal government might take to force Microsoft to break up into smaller units, while just 35% are in favor. Among computer users, the margin is slightly wider, with 59% opposed and 35% in favor. Last March, based on a somewhat different question wording, 69% of Americans said they felt the federal government should leave Microsoft as it is, while 21% said the federal government should force Microsoft to break up into several smaller companies.
Use of Microsoft Windows Near Saturation; Net Browser
Competitive
The latest Gallup poll to ask Americans whether they used Microsoft
Windows was in January, 1998, when about six of ten Americans said
they used a personal computer (PC) at home or work (similar to the
number of PC users found in the latest poll). Of that group 86%
said they used Microsoft Windows as their computer's operating
system. But contrary to the fears of many experts in the computer
industry, Microsoft was not the dominant provider of Internet web
browsers. At the time, 41% of PC users said that to navigate on the
Internet they used Netscape (which has since been bought by America
Online), compared with 39% who said they used Microsoft Internet
Explorer, and 10% who said they used some other browser.
In the lawsuit, the Justice Department contends, among other things, that Microsoft is using its monopoly of the operating system to illegally stifle competition in developing web browsers. As a consequence the government has tried to get Microsoft to sell the Windows operating system without the Microsoft web browser for companies who prefer another browser. But Microsoft has refused, arguing that the browser and operating system are integrated units. In a March, 1998, Gallup poll, Americans were divided over whether they opposed (39%) or supported (33%) Justice Department efforts to change the way Microsoft packages its browser.
The public's general impressions of the software company were not so divided, however. In that 1998 poll, Americans rejected the notion that Microsoft was using illegal sales and business tactics to promote its software, by a margin of 57% to 16%. Still, when asked whether the Justice Department should continue or drop its investigations into the way Microsoft does business, Americans opted for continuing the investigation by a margin of 48% to 37%.
Despite Being a Monopoly, Microsoft Viewed as Positive
Impact on Computer Industry
One of the key questions in the lawsuit, answered affirmatively by
the judge, was whether or not Microsoft could be classified as a
monopoly. In two polls taken a year apart, Americans were almost
evenly divided, although leaning toward an affirmative response: by
43% to 41% they said yes in a March, 1998, poll; and by a larger
margin of 49% to 38%, they responded affirmatively in a February,
1999, poll.
Despite this judgment, Americans expressed overwhelmingly positive views about the contribution that Microsoft has made to the computer industry. In the March, 1998, poll, 75% said Microsoft's impact was positive rather than negative, and in the February poll a year later, 80% expressed that view.
Survey Methods
The results reported here are based on telephone interviews with a
randomly selected national sample of 1,011 adults, 18 years and
older, conducted November 4-7, 1999. For results based on the whole
sample, one can say with 95 percent confidence that the maximum
error attributable to sampling and other random effects is plus or
minus 3 percentage points. In addition to sampling error, question
wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can
introduce error or bias into the findings of public opinion
polls.
Do you use a personal computer on a regular basis, either at home, work or school, or not?
| Yes | No | No opinion | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 Nov 4-7 | 60% | 40 | -- |
| 1999 Mar 30-31 | 57% | 42 | 1 |
| 1998 Nov 13-15 | 56% | 44 | 0 |
Thinking about Microsoft -- the computer software company that produces Windows 95 and other products -- do you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of the Microsoft Corporation?
| Favorable | Unfavorable | No opinion | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 Nov 4-7 | |||
| National Adults | 67% | 16 | 17 |
| Computer Users | 78% | 16 | 6 |
| National Adult Trend | |||
| 1999 Mar 30-31 | 60% | 14 | 26 |
| 1999 Feb 26-28 | 58% | 16 | 26 |
| 1999 Feb 8-9 | 66% | 16 | 18 |
| 1998 Nov 13-15 | 55% | 17 | 28 |
| 1998 Mar 6-9 | 58% | 13 | 29 |
Now thinking about Bill Gates -- the founder and CEO of Microsoft -- do you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of Bill Gates?
| Favorable | Unfavorable | NEVER HEARD OF (vol.) | No opinion | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 Nov 4-7 | ||||
| National Adults | 68% | 19 | 1 | 12 |
| Computer Users | 72% | 19 | -- | 9 |
| National Adult Trend | ||||
| 1999 Jul 22-25 | 64% | 15 | 6 | 15 |
| 1999 Mar 30-31 | 59% | 18 | 1 | 22 |
| 1999 Feb 26-28 | 62% | 16 | 4 | 18 |
| 1999 Feb 8-9 | 66% | 18 | 3 | 13 |
| 1998 Dec 28-29 | 66% | 16 | 7 | 11 |
| 1998 Nov 13-15 | 56% | 18 | 3 | 23 |
| 1998 Mar 6-9 | 55% | 16 | 3 | 26 |
[NOV 4-5: As you may know, a lawsuit by the Justice Department against Microsoft is currently being tried in court.] [NOV 6-7: As you may know, the Justice Department filed a lawsuit against the Microsoft Corporation which was recently tried in court]
Based on what you know about the case, do you side more with -- [ROTATE: 1) The Justice Department (or with) 2) The Microsoft Corporation]?
| Justice Dept. | Microsoft Corp. | BOTH (vol.) | NEITHER (vol.) | No opinion | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 Nov 4-7 | |||||
| National Adults | 33% | 45 | 1 | 2 | 19 |
| Computer Users | 35% | 49 | 2 | 1 | 13 |
| National Adult Trend | |||||
| 1999 Mar 30-31 | 26% | 42 | 2 | 4 | 26 |
| 1999 Feb 8-9 | 28% | 45 | 2 | 4 | 21 |
| 1998 Nov 13-15 | 28% | 44 | 1 | 7 | 20 |
Would you favor or oppose actions by the federal government which would require Microsoft to break up into several smaller companies?
| National adults | Computer users | |
|---|---|---|
| Favor | 35% | 35% |
| Oppose | 54 | 59 |
| No opinion | 11 | 6 |
| 100% | 100% |
(vol.) volunteered response
