FREE ESSAY ON THE ANTI-TRUST CASE AGAINST MICROSOFT

THE ANTI-TRUST CASE AGAINST MICROSOFT

The Anti-Trust Case Against Microsoft 
Since 1990, a battle has raged in United States courts between the United States
government and the Microsoft Corporation out of Redmond, Washington, headed by Bill
Gates. What is at stake is money. The federal government maintains that Microsoft's
monopolistic practices are harmful to United States citizens, creating higher prices and
potentially downgrading software quality, and should therefore be stopped, while
Microsoft and its supporters claim that they are not breaking any laws, and are just
doing good business.
Microsoft's antitrust problems began for them in the early months of 1990(Check 1), when
the Federal Trade Commission began investigating them for possible violations of the
Sherman and Clayton Antitrust Acts,(Maldoom 1) which are designed to stop the formation
of monopolies. The investigation continued on for the next three years without resolve,
until Novell, maker of DR-DOS, a competitor of Microsoft's MS-DOS, filed a complaint with
the Competition Directorate of the European Commission in June of 1993.(Maldoom 1) Doing
this stalled the investigations even more, until finally in August of 1993, (Check 1)the
Federal Trade Commission decided to hand the case over to the Department of Justice. The
Department of Justice moved quickly, with Anne K. Bingaman, head of the Antitrust
Division of the DOJ, leading the way.(Check 1) The case was finally ended on July 15,
1994, with Microsoft signing a consent settlement.(Check 1)
The settlement focused on Microsoft's selling practices with computer manufacturers. Up
until now, Microsoft would sell MS-DOS and Microsoft's other operating systems to
original equipment manufacturers (OEM's) at a 60% discount if that OEM agreed to pay a
royalty to Microsoft for every single computer that they sold (Check 2) regardless if it
had a Microsoft operating system installed on it or not. After the settlement, Microsoft
would be forced to sell their operating systems according to the number of computers
shipped with a Microsoft operating system installed, and not for computers that ran other
operating systems. (Check 2)
Another practice that the Justice Department accused Microsoft of was that Microsoft
would specify a minimum number of minimum number of operating systems that the retailer
had to buy, thus eliminating any chance for another operating system vendor to get their
system installed until the retailer had installed all of the Microsoft operating systems
that it had installed.(Maldoom 2)
In addition to specifying a minimum number of operating systems that a vendor had to buy,
Microsoft also would sign contracts with the vendors for long periods of time such as two
or three years. In order for a new operating system to gain popularity, it would have to
do so quickly, in order to show potential buyers that it was worth something. With
Microsoft signing long term contracts, they eliminated the chance for a new operating
system to gain the popularity needed, quickly.(Maldoom 2)
Probably the second most controversial issue, besides the per processor agreement, was
Microsoft's practice of tying. Tying was a practice in which Microsoft would use their
leverage in one market area, such as graphical user interfaces, to gain leverage in
another market, such as operating systems, where they may have competition.(Maldoom 2) In
the preceding example, Microsoft would use their graphical user interface, Windows, to
sell their operating system, DOS, by offering discounts to manufacturers that purchased
both MS-DOS and Windows, and threatening to not sell Windows to companies who did not
also purchase DOS.
In the end, Microsoft decided to suck it up and sign the settlement agreement. In signing
the agreement, Microsoft did not actually have to admit to any of the alleged charges,
but were able to escape any type of formal punishment such as fines and the like.
The settlement that Microsoft agreed to prohibits it, for the next six and a half years
from:
Charging for its operating system on the basis of computer shipped rather than on copies
of MS-DOS shipped; 
Imposing minimum quantity commitments on manufacturers; 
Signing contracts for greater than one year; 
Tying the sale of MS_DOS to the sale of other Microsoft products;(Maldoom 1)
Although these penalties look to put an end to all of Microsoft's evil practices, some
people think that they are not harsh enough and that Microsoft should have been split up
to put a stop to any chance of them forming a true monopoly of the operating system
market and of the entire software market.
On one side of the issue, there are the people who feel that Microsoft should be left
alone, at least for the time being. I am one of these people, feeling that Microsoft does
more good than bad, thus not necessitating their breakup. I feel this way for many
reasons, and until Microsoft does something terribly wrong or illegal, my opinion will
stay this way.
First and foremost, Microsoft sets standards for the rest of the industry to follow.
Jesse Berst, editorial director of Windows Watcher newsletter out of Redmond, Washington,
and the executive director of the Windows Solutions Conference, says it best with this
statement: To use a railroad analogy, Microsoft builds the tracks on which the rest of
the industry ships its products. (Why Microsoft (Mostly) Shouldn't Be Stopped.
4) With Microsoft creating the standards for the rest of the computer industry, they are
able to create better standards and build them much faster than if an outside
organization or committee were to create them. With these standards set, other companies
are able to create their applications and other products that much faster, and better,
and thus the customers receive that much better of a product.
Take for instance the current effort to develop the Digital Video Disc (DVD) standard.
DVD's are compact discs that are capable of storing 4900 megabytes of information as
apposed to the 650 megabytes that can be stored on a CD-ROM disc now.
For this reason, DVD's have enormous possibilities in both the computer industry and in
the movie industry. For about the last year, companies such as Sony, Mitsubishi, and
other prominent electronics manufacturers have been trying to decide on a set of
standards for the DVD format. Unfortunately, these standards meetings have gone nowhere,
and subsequently, many of the companies have broken off in different directions, trying
to develop their own standards. In the end, there won't be one, definite standard, but
instead, many standards, all of which are very different from one another. Consumers will
be forced to make a decision on which standard to choose, and if they pick the wrong one,
they could be stuck down the road with a DVD player that is worthless. Had only one
company set the standards, much like Microsoft has in the software business, there
wouldn't be the confusion that arose, and the consumers could sit back and relax, knowing
that the DVD format is secure and won't be changed.
Another conclusion that many anti-Microsoft people and other people around the world jump
to is that the moment that we have a company, such as Microsoft, who is very successful,
they immediately think that there must be something wrong; they have to be doing
something illegal or immoral to have become this immense. This is not the case.
Contrary to popular belief, Microsoft has not gained its enormous popularity through
monopolistic and illegal measures, but instead through superior products. I feel that
people do have brains, and therefore have the capacity to make rational decisions based
on what they think is right. If people didn't like the Microsoft operating systems, there
are about a hundred other choices for operating systems, all of which have the ability to
replace Microsoft if the people wanted them. But they don't, the people for the most part
want Microsoft operating systems. For this reason, I don't take the excuse that Microsoft
has gained their popularity through illegal measures. They simply created products that
the people liked, and the people bought them.
On the other side of the issue, are the people who believe that Microsoft is indeed
operating in a monopolistic manner and therefore, the government should intervene and
split Microsoft up. Those who are under the assumption that Microsoft should indeed be
split up, believe that they should either be split into two separate companies: one
dealing with operating systems and the other dealing strictly with applications. The
other group believes that the government should further split Microsoft up into three
divisions: one company to create operating systems, one company to create office
applications, and one company to create applications for the home. All of these people
agree that Microsoft should be split up, anyway possible.
The first thing that proponents of Microsoft being split up argue that although Microsoft
has created all kinds of standards for the computer software industry, in today's world,
we don't necessarily need standards. Competing technologies can coexist in today's
society, without the need for standards set by an external body or by a lone company such
as Microsoft. A good analogy for this position is given in the paper, A Case Against
Microsoft: Myth Number 4. In this article, the author states that people who think that
we need such standards, give the example of the home video cassette industry of the late
1970's. He says that these people point out that in the battle between the VHS and Beta
video formats, VHS won not because it was a superior product, but because it was more
successfully marketed. He then goes to point out that buying an operating system for a
computer is nothing at all like purchasing a VCR, because the operating system of a
computer defines that computer's personality, whereas a VCR's only function is to play
movies, and both VHS and Beta do the job equally. 
Also, with the development of camcorders, there have been the introduction of many new
formats for video tapes that are all being used at once. VHS-C, S-VHS and 8mm formats all
are coexisting together in the camcorder market, showing that maybe in our society today,
we are not in need of one standard. Maybe we can get along just as well with more than
one standard. Along the same lines, there are quite a few other industries that can get
along without one standard. Take for instance the automobile industry. If you accepted
the idea that one standard was best for everyone involved, then you would never be
tempted to purchase a BMW, Lexus, Infiniti, Saab or Porsche automobile, due to the fact
that these cars all have less than one percent market share in the automobile industry
and therefore will never be standards. 
Probably the biggest proponent of government intervention into the Microsoft issue is
Netscape Communications, based out of Mountain View, California. Netscape has filed law
suits accusing Microsoft of tying again.(Netscape's Complaint against MicroSoft. 2) This
time, Microsoft is bundling their world wide web browser, Internet Explorer 3.0 into
their operating system, Windows 95. Netscape is the maker of Netscape Navigator,
currently the most widely used internet browser on the market, and now, facing some
fierce competition from Microsoft's Internet Explorer. Netscape says that in addition to
bundling the browser, Microsoft was offering Windows at a discount to original equipment
manufacturers (OEM's),(Netscape's Complaint against MicroSoft. 2) to feature Internet
Explorer on the desktop of the computers that they shipped, thus eliminating any
competition for space on the desktop by rival companies such as Netscape.
If the OEM wants to give the consumer a fair and even choice of browsers by placing
competitors' browser icons in a comparable place on the desktop, Netscape has been
informed that the OEM must pay $3 more for Windows 95 than an OEM that takes the Windows
bundle as is and agrees to make the competitors' browsers far less accessible and useful
to customers.(Netscape's Complaint against MicroSoft. 2) Another accusation that Netscape
is making against Microsoft is that they are doing the same type of things with the large
internet service providers of the nation. They are offering the large internet providers
of the nation, such as Netcom and AT&T, space on the Windows 95 desktop, in return for
the internet provider's consent that they will not offer Netscape Navigator, or any other
competing internet software to their customers.(Netscape's Complaint against MicroSoft.
3)
Netscape is becoming ever more concerned with Microsoft's practices, because for now,
they are going untouched by the government and it looks as if it will stay that way for
quite some time now. The are very much worried, as they watch the numbers of users
switching to Microsoft's browser, and the number of users using Navigator slipping.
Besides all of the accusations of monopolistic actions Netscape lay down on them,
Microsoft does seem to have one advantage when it comes to the browser wars. Their new
browser, version 3.0, matches Netscape's feature for feature, with one added plus: it is
free and Microsoft says that it always free. So is their internet server, Internet
Information Server. Whereas Netscape charges $50 and $1500 for their browser and their
web server, respectively.(Netscape's Complaint against MicroSoft. 3)
With all the information that has been presented for both sides of the issue, you are
probably left in a daze, not knowing what to think. Is Microsoft good? Or is Microsoft
bad? Well, the answer is a little bit of both. Even though the Justice Department found
that Microsoft might be practicing some techniques that are less than ethical, they did
not find that Microsoft was breaking any anti-trust laws, nor did Microsoft actually
admit to the accusations when they signed the agreement. If anything, them signing the
agreement was more of a sorry than an full fledged admission of guilt. Other people might
disagree with me, and there might be a lot of allegations floating around from different
companies, but the fact of the matter is plain and simple. Microsoft has not been
formerly charged and found guilty of any illegal practices pertaining to them being a
monopoly. 
I believe that the government should stay out of the affairs of the economy, rather than
get tangled up in a mess, and just end up deadlocked like the FTC did in 1990. And even
if the government did get involved, due to the extremely fast paced nature of the
computer industry, and the extremely slow nature of the government, there may not be any
resolve for quite a while. 
Works Cited
Check, Dan. The Case Against Microsoft.
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/spazz/mspaper.htm. 1-5.
Maldoom, Daniel. The Microsoft Antitrust Case.
http://www.londecon.co.uk/pubs/comp/microsft.htm. 1-5.
Maney, Kevin. Megamedia Shakeout. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1995.
Monopolies in Cyberspace. The Economist.
http://www.economist.com/issue/07-09-96/ld2.html. 1-2.
Myth of Standards. Boycott Microsoft. http://www.vcnet.com/bms/page3d.html*World Wide
Web*/a*. 1-3.*br**li*NetscapeWorld Wide Web. 1-2.
Poole, Robert W., Jr. Unnatural Monopolies. Lexington, Massachusetts: D.C. Heath and
Company, 1985.
Rosenoer, Jonathan. Cyberlaw: Withholding Consent. Cyberlaw.
http://www.cyberlaw.com/cylw0295.html. 1-3. 
Schmidt, Eric. The Struggle for Bill Gates's Soul. US News and World Report. Nov. 25,
1996: 69-71. 
Stross, Randall. Heaven's Gates. US News and World Report. Nov. 25, 1996: 58-68. 
Why Microsoft (Mostly) Shouldn't Be Stopped. Antitrust.org.
http://www.antitrust.org/cases/microsoft/control.html. 1-19. 
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