Microsoft: Bar the Windows, a Storm is Coming :: Argumentative Computers Papers

Microsoft: Bar the Windows, a Storm is Coming For the past 28 years, one company has been on the forefront of PC software. Microsoft has controlled the computer industry and its consumers with their aggressive business policies, marketing skills, and popular software. As a result of Microsoft’s disregard for the preceding rulings of the Sherman Antitrust Act against monopolies, it would be a beneficial decision for our candidate to support the states in mitigating the monopoly established by Microsoft. Microsoft was effectively established with the creation of the first personal computer, Altair 8800, by the Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems, in January 1975 (MITS). Within one month, Paul Allen and Bill Gates had written BASIC, the first language written for a PC. Microsoft earned more than one million dollars in 1978, and with the help of their â€Å"Windows† program as well as numerous other programs, they earned more than one billion dollars in their fifteenth year as a company. They spent much of their money investing in other companies, gaining more and more power and economic prowess(http://wwwshs1.bham.wednet.edu/curric/socst/wa/tdhist.htm). In recent years, it seems that Microsoft may have gone too far with their aggressiveness. They were accused of building a monopoly. The Dictionary.com definition of monopoly is as follows: â€Å"The exclusive power or privilege of selling a commodity; the exclusive power, right, or privilege of dealing in some article, or of trading in some market; sole command of the traffic in anything, however obtained†(Dictionary.com). By this definition, Microsoft violated the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890. However, this act was written very vaguely, and certain important terms, such as â€Å"restraint of trade,† â€Å"combination,† and â€Å"monopolize†, were not defined. This makes it very difficult for courts to enforce and easy for powerful companies, Microsoft included, to abuse while defending themselves in court (Poole). But, because Microsoft is the defendant in this particular case, many of Microsoft’s empirical statements are merely refutations of accusations made against them. First of all, the government accused Microsoft of using its â€Å"market clout† to stop Intel from making technology that Microsoft was opposed to, essentially making it a monopoly by conspiring to restrict trade in the computer software industry(Chandrasekaran).