Microsoft has finally closed a chapter in its history, ending an epic, twenty-one year antitrust battle with the government. The Seattle Times’s Sharon Pian Chan reports ^[1] that after 21 years of fighting, a consent decree, which forced Microsoft to make Windows interoperable with non-Microsoft software, expired May 12, 2011.

The saga began in 1998, when the 20 states and the U.S. Justice Department filed suit against the tech giant, alleging that the company used “predatory practices” to ensure its monopoly. Now that the fight is over, Microsoft can get back to business; But the landscape has shifted so dramatically since the 2000 consent decree was issued that OS squabbles are now, well, passé. Notes, Chan, “while Microsoft may have escaped with its Windows dominance intact, its monopoly on computing is over.”

Where will Microsoft turn now that the Wagnerian browser battle has ended? Its recent $8.5 billion purchase of Skype gives us a clue. Let’s just hope the company has learned a thing or two about playing nice with others.  Maybe?

Read more at The Seattle Times ^[1].