United States v. Microsoft Corporation: Microsoft’s Abusive Practices Towards Becoming a Monopoly

3831 Words8 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Microsoft corp case study

History of the Microsoft Corporation

The Microsoft Corporation American is a multinational corporation that is based in Redmond, Washington, that specializes in developing, manufacturing, licensing, supporting and selling software for computers. It is probably best known for producing software such as the Microsoft Windows line of operating systems and it web browser Internet Explorer. Its leading hardware products include the line of Xbox gaming consoles. Microsoft is currently the largest software maker in the world in terms of revenue and for this reason it is also one of the most valuable companies in the world.

The company was created by childhood friends Bill Gates and Paul Allen on April 4, 1975 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Gates and Allen began developing and sell BASIC interpreters for the Altair 8800. Their passion for computer programming allowed them to succeed in the industry and in the mid 1980’s, Microsoft dominated the personal computer operating system business with their revolutionary MS-DOS, followed by the Microsoft Windows. Since the 1990’s and onwards, Microsoft has gradually expanded from the operating system market and has delved into the acquisitions of other corporations such as in 2011 when they bought Skype Technologies, a telecommunications corporation for $8.5 billion.

Microsoft is currently market dominant in the IBM PC-compatible operating system and also the office software markets with their ever popular Microsoft Office program. Microsoft also makes an extensive array of additional software for desktop computers and servers, and is involved in several areas such as competing with Google in the internet search market with Bing, challenging for market dominance in the video game industry ag...

... middle of paper ...

...ifferent.

Works Cited

Microsoft News Center, . N.p.. Web. 2 Feb 2014.
Grandy, C. (1993). JSTOR: The Journal of Economic History. (2 ed., Vol. 53). London: Cambridge University Press.

Wasserman, E. (1998, Novemeber 17). Gates deposition makes judge laugh in court. Retrieved from Gates deposition makes judge laugh in court

Lenard, T. M., & Eisenach, J. A. (2000, April 4). The Microsoft Monopoly: The Facts, the Law and the Remedy. Retrieved April 15, 2014, from http://www.pff.org/issues-pubs/pops/pop7.4microsoftmonopolyfacts.html

Williams, W. (2014, January 11). Still think Internet Explorer sucks? Microsoft wants you to 'rethink' that opinion. BetaNews. Retrieved April 16, 2014, from http://betanews.com/2014/01/22/still-think-internet-explorer-sucks-microsoft-wants-you-to-rethink-that-opinion/

Show More
Related

  • How Did Microsoft Impact The State Of Washington

    953 Words  | 2 Pages

    Microsoft has greatly impacted the State of Washington and has created an innovation powerhouse created by a man with a "impossible dream". Microsoft Corporation is one of the most well known and successful businesses in the state. Along with Boeing, and Amazon, Microsoft's value sits very high in the financial world. The founder, Bill Gates, worked very hard to rise to the challenge of competing with other technology companies. With all his hard work and effort he made his dream of success come true.

    Read More

  • Does Microsoft Have Too Much Power?

    952 Words  | 2 Pages

    Microsoft was once a small software business ran by a young Bill Gates in a tiny

    Read More

  • Case of United States Versus Microsoft

    964 Words  | 2 Pages

    United States versus Microsoft Corporation case was a set of combined civil engagements filed against Microsoft relating to the Sherman Antitrust Act by the Department of Justice. In the case, the Department of Justice purported that Microsoft abused monopoly supremacy on PCs in its control of OS sales and web browser software sales (Lohr& Brinkley, 2001). The conflict evolved around the integration of the internet explorer browser software in Microsoft’s Windows OS; a move that was argued to restrict web browser competitors like Opera and Netscape from accessing the browser market. Microsoft argued that it did not have a case to answer and stated the misfortune was the result of the fierce competition and innovation strategies in its industry (Glader, 2006). The following paper aims at analyzing the merits generated from the final settlement of the case and outlines the parties that benefited and those whose interests were harmed.

    Read More

  • Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) Finance Paper

    1244 Words  | 3 Pages

    The now highly profitable and cash rich Microsoft diversified into a wide variety of software products including: compilers and interpreters for programming languages and word processors, spreadsheets and other office software some of these products were successful, and some were not. By the turn of the millennium, many of Microsoft's software products dominated the market in their respective categories.

    Read More

  • The Enlightenment and a Desire for a Free Market

    1442 Words  | 3 Pages

    Gaynor Ellis, Elisabeth, and Anthony Esler. ""New Economic Thinking"" World History: The Modern Era. Prentice Hall. 186. Print.

    Read More

  • Bill Gates: The Richest Man In The World

    817 Words  | 2 Pages

    This was the same year when Bill Gates and Paul Allen co-founded Microsoft. In 1981, Bill Gates’ company was hired to develop an operating system but rather than creating a new operating system they decided to buy a preexisting operation system called QDOS (Quick and Dirty Operating System) for the amount of 50,000 dollars. After modifying the operating system they bought, they renamed the operating system to MS-DOS. After MS-DOS began selling it brought in a steady income for Gates due to the fact that the PC market was growing and there weren’t many competitors in the market for them to compete with. In 1986, when Microsoft Corporation went public, it made Gates into a millionaire overnight. The following year, Microsoft released their first ever version of

    Read More

  • Microsoft As A Monopoly

    843 Words  | 2 Pages

    "Microsoft Corporation, is a multinational computer technology corporation with global annual revenue of US$44.28 billion and 71,553 employees in 102 countries as of July 2006. It develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of software products for computing devices. Headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA, its best selling products are the Microsoft Windows operating system and the Microsoft Office suite of productivity software, each of which has achieved near-ubiquity in the desktop computer market. Microsoft possesses footholds in other markets, with assets such as the MSNBC cable television network, the MSN Internet portal, and the Microsoft Encarta multimedia encyclopedia. The company also markets both computer hardware products such as the Microsoft mouse as well as home entertainment products such as the Xbox, Xbox 360 and MSN TV" ("Microsoft").

    Read More

  • The External and Internal Factors of the Microsoft Corporation

    1147 Words  | 3 Pages

    In this paper, team B will discuss the internal and external factors of the Microsoft Corporation. We will explain how these factors affect the four functions of management, planning, organizing, leading, and controlling. Also, we will explain how globalization, technology, innovation, diversity and ethics will be delegated to manage the different factors. Microsoft Corporation was established in 1975 in Albuquerque, New Mexico producing software for developing, manufacturing, licensing, and support for range of software products and service for different type of computing devices. Microsoft grew from six employees to the largest personal computer software company in the world. By 1978, Microsoft earned $500,000 in the first quarter, and by the end of the year they earned revenue of $1,000,000. In the early 1980s Microsoft, in collaboration with IBM they released MS-DOS as their first 16-bit operating system. However after the late 1980s, Microsoft started to build its reputation by creating the Microsoft windows operating system and Microsoft office product, which includes internet explorer, excel, PowerPoint, and word programs. Then in the late 1990s, Microsoft teamed with Sega to incorporated their windows software package into the game developer’s Dreamcast hardware. Also they developed their own gaming system called the Xbox and that eventually was replaced by the xbox360. Microsoft has come a long way and is no longer just a worldwide leader in computer programming but also a major part of the technology world. Microsoft windows have been the flagship and accounts for most of its revenue for Microsoft: but the company has also branched ...

    Read More

  • Microsoft Case Study

    1915 Words  | 4 Pages

    Microsoft’s mission of placing a “PC running Microsoft software on every desk and in every home” drove their overall strategy early on. Depending on the business segment within Microsoft, one would see in place very different business models as the strategy for each line of business could vary. In the operating system (OS) segment, Microsoft initially brought in an existing product and modified this (MS-DOS) to work with the Intel microprocessor, which were the “brains” of the IBM PC. Microsoft partnered with IBM to provide the operating system for the IBM PC. In addition to developing Windows, Microsoft during this period was working to write applications for the Apple OS.

    Read More

  • Google, Apple and Microsoft Compared

    709 Words  | 2 Pages

    And then there's Microsoft themselves. After Bill Gates handed over CEO to Steve Ballmer, all hell broke loose as humans raged about him. During the first twenty years of Microsoft, they were considered an evil monopolistic empire, destroying all competitors that came their way. Back then, if you wanted word processing software, you used Office. Want a computer o...

    Read More

  • Financial Comparison Of Microsoft, Dell, And Apple

    1997 Words  | 4 Pages

    Microsoft is currently the largest company in the computer industry. With a market capitalization of $291 billion, Microsoft has built an empire by dominating software sales for personal computers. Stock growth over the past 25 years has increased by more than 30,000%. However, Microsoft’s growth has substantially decreased since the market collapse of 2001(Niemond 25 April 2007).

    Read More

  • Microsoft Corporation Essay

    1032 Words  | 3 Pages

    Microsoft is one of the leading software companies in the world and it controls substantial shares of computer operating systems. A part from operating systems, Microsoft supplies the world with other products, such as the video game console Xbox, Office Software, digital music players, server storage software, CRM applications, and Zune. In the modern world, Microsoft has embraced the idea of globalization while it has exploited current technology to increase its global competitiveness. Therefore, this paper examines how globalization and technology have influenced Microsoft Company. Moreover, the paper applies industrial organization model and resource based model to assess if Microsoft could earn high returns. Finally, the paper does an assessment of the vision and mission statements and concludes how the stakeholders influence the success of Microsoft.

    Read More

  • Microsoft’s Diversification Strategy

    2728 Words  | 6 Pages

    Microsoft was originally created in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen. They first introduced their software package, Window 1.0 in 1983, the first package to consist of a mouse which helps navigate a PC. MS-DOS commands were previously used to operate computer systems, however people found these extremely hard to understand. This Windows 1.0 package was a key turning point in Microsoft emergence. As time progressed Microsoft created updated versions which consisted of advanced graphics, built-in internet support, dial-up networking and much more (Microsoft, 2011). Windows packages started from Window 1.0 to the current version whic...

    Read More

  • Microsoft Outsourcing the XBox

    788 Words  | 2 Pages

    Microsoft, from its inception, has been known for its software, especially its Windows platform. It has changed the way we operate computers and through its software, has made the computer user-friendly and very efficient. Microsoft, however, does not want to only specialize in the software department. They have thus expanded their excellence in other departments such as gaming, music and hardware.

    Read More

  • Microsoft Corporation Case Analysis

    1254 Words  | 3 Pages

    Microsoft is the leading and the largest Software Company in the world. Found by William Gates and Paul Allen in 1975 Microsoft has grown and become a multibillion company in only ten years. It all started with a great vision – “a computer on every desk and every home” - that seemed almost impossible at the time. Now Microsoft has over 44,000 employees in 60 countries, net income of $3.45 billion and revenue of 11.36 billion. Company dramatic growth and success was driven by development and marketing of operational systems and personal productivity applications software.

    Read More

More about United States v. Microsoft Corporation: Microsoft’s Abusive Practices Towards Becoming a Monopoly

Open Document