Business argument and ethics - Essay Example

Historically in the United States, government has been wary of large corporations who appear to accumulate monopolistic powers where they control both the supply of a particular commodity as well as its price. The belief is that monopolies constrain competition and that prices are kept at an artificially high level as a result. In some instances, government has gone so far as to order these huge corporations to be spilt into smaller companies. This occurred early on with the railroads and more recently with the Bell system of telephone companies.

The latest industry that finds itself in the sights of government regulators is the information technology sector in general and the Microsoft Corporation in particular. This essay examines Microsoft’s business practices and argues that the company has an unfair market advantage in violation of federal anti-trust laws. Microsoft Corporation is an international computer technology company that produces hardware and software products for computer-related devices worldwide. The company is a leader in technological innovation and excellence and for years has dominated the market for computer operating systems software.

Critics of Microsoft’s business practices argue that its monopoly over essential software technologies places its competitors at an unfair disadvantage. This is particularly the case for Microsoft’s operating system software, Windows. The majority of computers sold worldwide with the exception of Apple, come with Microsoft Windows operating system installed. Microsoft also provides a number of application software programs that are compatible only with Windows. Microsoft is also the major player in the rapidly expanding and lucrative Internet market, although Google has also certainly become a legitimate competitor in the Internet environment as well.

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