Microsoft announced that it is selling advertising space in the error
 messages that appear in Windows. Acknowledging for the first time that
 the average user of their operating system encounters error messages
 at least several times a day, Microsoft is trying to take financial
 advantage of the unavoidable opportunity to make an ad impression.
 "We estimate that throughout the world at any given moment several
 million people are getting a "general protection fault" or "illegal
 operation" warning. We will be able to generate significant revenue by
 including a short advertising message along with it," said Microsoft
 marketing director Nathan Mirror.

 The Justice Department immediately indicated that they intend to
 investigate whether Microsoft is gaining an unfair advantage in
 reaching the public with this advertising by virtue of its
 semi-monopolistic control over error messages.