Professor Calls Microsoft Settlement "Horrible" for Antitrust

A proposed settlement between Microsoft Corp. and the Justice Department would not restore software competition and would create "a horrible state of affairs" for antitrust enforcement in the high-tech industry, an expert in technology economics testified. But Carl Shapiro, a professor at the University of California at Berkeley, stopped short of endorsing all of the tougher sanctions on the company sought by state prosecutors, who have rejected the federal deal as inadequate.