BILL GATES, MICROSOFT & U.S. CAPITALISM
Within conventional American business wisdom, the old saying goes, Build a better mousetrap, and the world will beat a path to your door. Yet, when looking at the recent federal investigation of Microsoft for monopolistic business practices and the history of capitalism in the U.S., it appears that if you build a mousetrap too well, you can expect federal intervention. The monopoly of J.P. Morgan in the banking industry and the monopoly of John D. Rockefeller in the oil industry prove the federal government will take steps to break up a corporation that it fears is a monopoly. Antitrust suits are brought against companies that are thought to have a monopoly in an industry because “the company has such dominance in its industry that it has the power to dictate prices and limit competition” (Shiver and Helm 6). The Justice Department has been investigating the business practices of Microsoft and CEO Bill Gates since 1993, after the Federal Trade Commission had secretly investigated alleged allegation of collusion between the software giant and International Business Machines for two years. One year later the company was forced to sign a consent decree that it could not force those computer manufacturers who license its Windows operating system to also license other software. After bundling its Internet Browser software for free with Windows, companies like Netscape charged unlawful business practices were being carried out by Microsoft. In the spring of 1998, antitrust authorities and 20 states filed suit against Microsoft, accusing the industry software leader of unfair business practices in order to maintain a monopoly on its operating systems and to extend that monopoly to other markets. The chief accusations against Microsoft are as follows:
In violation of antitrust law, it integrated its Web browser with Windows 98 in an effort to crush Netscape, its main competitor in the ...