Today's disclosure of a proposed antitrust settlement between Microsoft and the US government roused the company's critics and prompted a stern warning from California's governor.
The settlement calls for Microsoft to cease using its dominant operating system to squelch its competitors.
But it failed to have enough "bite" said James Love, director of The Consumer Project on Technology, which tracks consumer rights in the technology markets.
"We aren't thrilled by any means," Mr Love said. "It doesn't punish Microsoft for past behavior, it just tells them to quit doing what they shouldn't have been doing, which made the company a lot of money and gave it more dominance than it should've had."
Ed Black, a spokesman for the Computer and Communications Industry Association, which is funded in part by Microsoft competitors, called the settlement "merely a slap on the wrist."
"Basically," Mr Black said, the settlement "doesn't require Microsoft to fundamentally change the way it does basically everything."
The proposal, which has yet to be approved by the judge hearing the case, faces the scrutiny of the 18 states that also sued the software titan for alleged anti-trust violations.
California Governor Gray Davis called for his and other states to be careful in their approval of the settlement.
"Whatever the US Department of Justice decides to do, I'm going to continue to urge the states to take the review time we need to fully understand every word and every implication in the proposal before we decide whether to settle," Mr Davis said.
AFP