Microsoft and Monopoly - Essay Example

Monopoly as such is stated to have negative connotations, as it tends to do away with healthy competition, resulting in costly products and services to the customer. But, in the software industry things are quite different. In the software and services industry, there are a number of key players offering their products and services. The products and services being offered by the companies like Cisco, Microsoft, Firefox, Linux, Mac, Oracle, Sun etc. are different from each other in many features.

These products might be useful for similar computer applications, but some of the features are quite distinct from each other. In such a scenario, when most of the companies produce 'similar yet not perfectly substitutable products' is termed as monopolistic market (Investopedia, 2009). Microsoft is an international company, in the software industry, with stakes in almost every nook and corner of the world. As the industry needs to cater to almost all other industries, the global software and services industry has become worth $2,239 billion, registering a growth of 10.

5 percent in the year 2008, i.e. even during the period hit by recessionary trends (Datamonitor, 2009). This goes on to prove that the industry is indeed quite attractive.Microsoft is a well known brand the world over. Anybody having anything to do with the field of IT, computers or technology finds the italicized brand name easily distinguishable and identifiable. Microsoft, with a brand value of $76,249 million was firmly placed at second position after Google in the ranking of brands prepared by MillwardBrown for the year 20091.

In order to protect the industries and give room for healthy competition countries and regulatory authorities come out with anti-trust laws. Such antitrust policies and regulations are meant to safeguard the interests of companies carrying out their business operations in fair manner. Such laws encourage healthy competition; discourage monopolistic trade practices, while coming down heavily on unfair trade practices. For the overall economic development of the country, what is more important is to see the economic welfare of the country and its populace while guarding the business interests of the corporate world.

For example, 'United States antitrust law' is a set of 'such laws' which discourages anti-competitive behavior and unfair business practices from the corporate world. The stated objective of the antitrust policy of US government2 is to promote and protect the competitive and the American economy, by using a host of antitrust laws.Microsoft, has been at number one in position in system software as well as application software. Despite their best efforts, no other company is able to match the power of its operating system software.

Windows is the first name that comes to our mind when we talk about operating system. In fact Windows itself became a brand identity for operating software. Now with valuable upgrades like Vista, the OS range is quite wide. While trying to propagate its cause, the company has been accused many a times of adopting unfair trade practices. Having corporate rivalries or business disputes is not uncommon amongst leading companies. Such disputes arise on account