Major competitors have found themselves under the scrutiny of antitrust investigators. In a statement earlier this year, Microsoft said it “was not aware of any government proceeding with respect to a Microsoft product, and we do not believe there is any material antitrust issue with respect to our products.” But there have been some questions about the timing of the release. Analysts argue that Microsoft should’ve waited until its new version of the operating system was launched and then issued updates to the old operating system. This would have avoided a huge amount of work, especially if the decision was based on legal concerns and not product quality. The idea is that if people don’t buy Vista, they can’t very easily upgrade to Windows 7 without reinstalling their operating system. In an interview last week, Microsoft Chief Financial Officer Peter Klein said “As we are working through this conversion, of course, we are concerned with product quality. I think it’s too early to say exactly what kind of changes we will be making.” Even though Microsoft’s update strategy was clearly a mistake, it is unclear whether it could be considered an antitrust violation. The U.S. Department of Justice declined to comment. (Image: Microsoft Operating System Logo) See also: