It was a masterly stroke even for the software industry's master strategist-or at least it seemed so at the time. When Bill Gates announced last October that Microsoft would buy Intuit -- maker of the popular "electronic-checkbook" program Quicken -- it looked as if the software giant would not only eliminate a meddlesome competitor but also gain an instant beachhead in the fast-growing field of electronic commerce. There were grumblings, of course, about antitrust, but hardly anyone seemed to think they would lead anywhere. After all, the Department of Justice's antitrust division had just wrapped up a four-year federal investigation of...
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