Is Silverlight a reason to fear monopoly from Microsoft? Seven states suspect so, and are moving to extend government oversight of the company.
After a 2002 ruling that Microsoft abused its monopoly power in the OS and web browser markets, several states and the US Department of Justice agreed that the company's conduct would be overseen by the government. The decree was originally set to expire in November of this year, but several states submitted a report to Judge Kollar-Kotelly, stating that Microsoft hasn't learned not to engage in monopolistic behavior. In their report, they asked that five years be added to the government oversight of Microsoft.
California, Connecticut, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Massachusetts, and Washington DC have moved to extend it even further - until November 12, 2012. The report issued today states that because Adobe's Air and Flash "substantially rely on the browser" to exist, and Microsoft continues to bundle IE with Windows, it is "critical" to oversee Microsoft until these technologies can achieve browser independence.