Microsoft's Anti-Trust Case

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that, in 1993, the Justice Department (DOJ) began an investigation into the allegations that (1) Microsoft used predatory pricing tactics to destroy competitors and eliminate competition in the marketplace and (2) erected technical barriers within their operating systems to make it difficult or impossible for non-Microsoft software to run on Windows; on July 15, 1994, in a consent decree, Microsoft agreed that it would not tie other Microsoft products into its Windows operating system. The author points out that this dominance was due to Microsoft's (1) development of a common user interface, which allows users to use similar commands in each of the individual application products, (2) concept of backward compatibility so that the older versions of applications work with newer versions of the operating system and (3) integration of its individual applications allowed users to create and use data between applications such as a spreadsheet created in Excel could be imported into a PowerPoint presentation. The paper continues to describe several other anti-trust cases such as the 2004 agreement with the Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA) and Novell.

From the Paper:

"In order to understand the environment in which the Microsoft anti-trust actions occurred, it is necessary to examine the beginnings of Microsoft. After an early career as a hacker, Bill Gates and Paul Allen founded Traf-O-Data in Seattle, Washington, a company started to develop and market a machine to generate traffic flow statistics. This machine was not the success that Gates and Allen hoped for, however. It may have been the youthfulness of the owners (Gates was 16), or it may have been that the state of Washington began to offer the same services for free."

More papers on Microsoft's Anti-Trust Case:

• Essay # 31805 : "Microsoft and Anti-Trust Issues"
• Essay # 67467 : "Anti-trust Enforcement"
• Essay # 23997 : "Anti-trust"

APA Citation:

MLA Citation: