The Justice Department came to an agreement with Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) in 2002 to regulate what the government saw as non-competitive actions by the big software company. According to Reuters: "Microsoft was found to have unlawfully used its monopoly in personal computer operating systems to discourage computer manufacturers from loading non-Microsoft software on their machines."

Now, the feds are saying Microsoft is doing just fine playing with others and the issue of competition has receded. Not so, say several state attorneys general. They don't believe that Gates & Co. have done much to mend their evil ways.

It is hard to say how the states measure this. Does Linux have a better footprint in the server market? Yes. Is the PC market more open to operating systems outside Windows? No. But until Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) makes its OS broadly available there are not any other alternatives.

Microsoft is certainly using the OS to help it in other areas, like keeping its browser in first place. But areas like web video are now dominated by Adobe (NASDAQ: ADBE)'s Flash platform. That was not true five years ago. PC software security is dominated by Symantec (NASDAQ: SYMC).

If there hadn't been a federal case against Microsoft, the landscape might remain the same as it was throughout the 1990s. But, with competition from Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) and other large software companies, it is hard to say that conditions have not changed.

Douglas A. McIntyre is a partner at 24/7 Wall St.