Microsoft & Antitrust Violations

Microsoft is one of the largest companies in the world. It has been accused of a variety of predatory pricing and distribution practices in its effort to continue to dominate the market for operating software. In the mid-1990s, Microsoft was charged with antitrust violations. As part of a consent decree intended to avoid a trial, Microsoft agreed to a series of steps designed to make it easier for personal computer manufacturers and others to select and install operating system software produced by companies other than Microsoft.

There has been a significant amount of discussion and debate about whether the company that Bill Gates founded and manages obeyed the original consent decree. Competitors argue that Microsoft has not fulfilled its obligations, and more importantly that Microsoft is engaged in a continuing pattern of unethical and illegal practices intended to maintain Microsoft's dominant position in the software industry. Some allege that Microsoft has violated state and federal antitrust laws in order to maintain its market share. Bill Gates, as founder and CEO of Microsoft, has been linked in the media to these illegal activities.

There is a fundamental concept or principle at work in the Microsoft antitrust case. That concept is associated with the idea of free enterprise. Essentially, people who support Microsoft would support these arguments:

* Microsoft does not need to squeeze out its competition with illegal activities. It enjoys

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on of these elected officials not to accept the settlement proposed by Microsoft and the U.S. Justice Department may be a political decision, or it could be based on a good faith belief that the terms of the settlement are inadequate. The potential ramifications of this action include the possibility that trials and appeals could result in this case costing the states millions of dollars and potentially taking another five of more years to be resolved. A chronology of the Microsoft antitrust case: Brief Litigation Chronology July 1994: Microsoft, in a consent decree, agrees to change contracts with PC makers and eliminate some restrictions on other software makers, ending a Justice Department investigation. September 1997: Microsoft launches Internet Explorer 4.0 in a stepped-up challenge to Netscape Communications' Internet browser. May 1998. The U.S. Justice Department and 20 state attorneys general sue Microsoft, charging it illegally thwarted competition to protect and extend its monopoly on software. November 1999. U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson declares Microsoft to be an illegal monopoly. He rules that the company's actions are "stifling innovation" and hurting consumers. April 2000: Judge J

Category: Government - M