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Microsoft Monopoly
Microsoft was investigated for an antitrust behavior because it was engaged in an activity that was believed to be unlawful according to the U.S. Laws. The U.S. market does not allow monopoly and it is unlawful to engage in monopolistic activities that tend to harm the competitors in the same market. The market is guided on the principles of free and open market for all where there is fair competition in the market place which is aimed to be in favor of the consumers in terms of commodity pricing, quality and more innovations.
Competition is healthy for any economy and it is through competition that the economy thrives and the consumer is the beneficiary in getting better quality products and at a lower price. An economy that is dominated by a single supplier lacks what a competitive market can offer whereby consumers are at the mercy of a single supplier or provider which spells out monopoly. The consumers are protected from the anticompetitive business activities which is the reason Microsoft was investigated for the antitrust...
The company spent a lot of money and invented a browser which was bundled and given for free with its windows software to customers. This was an attempt to block the new entrants and cause a barrier to entry into the new market by other players such as Netscape. It viewed Netscape as a threat to its future market for windows applications. Microsoft's dominance in the market gave it a platform to have some elements of monopolistic activities, it decided to distribute its IE freely to be installed with the windows which was a defensive move to protect itself from the browser wars and to protect its monopoly of the windows. Microsoft became the price maker in the PC window operating systems which are all the characteristics of pure monopoly. By nature of its size and the popularity, it…
References
Devon Willis, (1999). Advantages and Disadvantages of monopolies. Retrieved May 22, 2012 from http://www.ehow.com/info_8433706_advantages-disadvantages-monopolies.html
Howard Gilbert, (2003).Technical perspective on U.S. v. Microsoft. Retrieved May 22, 2012 from http://www.yale.edu/pclt/msupdate.htm
Nicholas Economides, (2003). The Microsoft Antitrust Case. Retrieved May 22, 2012 http://www.stern.nyu.edu/networks/homeworks/Microsoft_Case.pdf
Microsoft Monopoly Why was Microsoft investigated for antitrust behavior? In the eyes of some legal analysts, Microsoft was investigated and taken to court over antitrust allegations because of the belief that it would not live up to its own word about what it intended (McKenzie and Shughart, 1998). There was little doubt about the fact that by the mid- to late-1990s Microsoft had virtual control over the operating system (Windows) that it
Microsoft Monopoly Assessment of Microsoft's Monopoly Microsoft has for decades engaged in commercial activities both with its direct enterprise customers and its many distribution channel partners that could be considered monopolistic. While Microsoft has long asserted it is one of the most efficient competitors there are in an oligopolistically-based market of enterprise and consumer software, in reality its strategies and tactics show a pattern of deliberate monopolistic behavior (Information Management, 2009). Microsoft
Microsoft Monopoly Since feudalism gave way to capitalism and the Industrial Revolution sparked a number of economic ideas, scholars have debated the idea of competition within the market. In most any economic system, competition forms the basis of the market economy. As well, within economic systems, there may be ethical and unethical practices and arrangements. Most of the unethical practices, after a time, become illegal and are discouraged, but others become
It is also worth noting that as time moves forward there is less of a downward sloping demand curve in software. This means that the demand for browsers is less likely to decline as price increases over time, as more people go online and the technology becomes ubiquitous. If there was a downward sloping demand curve, the monopoly firm would be prevented from increasing prices infinitely because it would
In many ways, Microsoft's point that it was a natural monopoly because of its browser and operating system being the most efficient and cost-effective solution for the market is well taken. Because of the demand for their system, there was a huge economy of scale, making PCs far less expensive. In addition, many monopolies are deadweight loss to society by taking more than giving -- Microsoft's investment and research/development continue
MSFT Monopoly The Microsoft antitrust case was based around three premises -- that Microsoft monopolized the market for operating systems, that it monopolized the market for browsers and that it bundled its browser and operating system in order to use its market power in operating systems to control the market for browsers. The company was also accused of having illegal agreements with channel partners to keep Netscape's browser out of the