Recently one of the biggest corporations in the United States, Microsoft had to face several ultimatums from the government. The case against Microsoft was brought by the U.S. Department of Justice, as well as several state Attorneys General. Microsoft is accused of using and maintaining monopoly power to gain an unfair advantage in software market. The Department of Justice launches an investigation of Microsoft, looking into whether they have forced computer makers to take Internet Explorer.
The proposed remedy against Microsoft marks the first time that the government has tried to break up a major corporation since the Bell System telephone monopoly was divided into eight companies in 1984. If the breakup becomes a reality, it could cause significant shifts in the dynamics of the computer and software industries. Securities analysts are unclear about how it would impact the software giant's current $356 billion market value. Microsoft is estimated to have an 82 percent share of the market for personal computer operating systems and a 94 percent share of the market for office applications, such as word processing and spreadsheets. The company has become so dominant in those two markets that its revenue growth rate has started to slow dramatically from its average over the past five years.
The case has been under observation for a long time, but the Justice department is having trouble coming up with substantial evidence against Microsoft. Specifically, the Department must prove: That Microsoft has monopoly power and is using it to gain unfair leverage in the market. And that Microsoft has maintained this monopoly power through predatory actions. Many people feel that Microsoft is only taking advantage of its position in the market and using marketing stra ...