The U.S. government's scrutiny of Microsoft began not with the famous 1998 trial but with a Federal Trade Commission investigation opened in 1990, after Microsoft and IBM split over operating systems. The probe examined whether Microsoft was using its dominance over PC operating systems to stifle competition. According to The Washington Post, the FTC commissioners deadlocked twice — on February 5 and again on July 21, 1993 — failing to muster a majority to authorize a complaint, with one commissioner recused over a conflict. The stalemate effectively ended the FTC's case, but the Justice Department took over the inquiry, leading to Microsoft's 1994 consent decree and, ultimately, the landmark antitrust litigation of the late 1990s.