The late 1900’s and the early 2000’s were dominated by Microsoft. Microsoft, with its unique browser, operating system, and technology, proved to be the predominant force in the technology industry. As a result of their dominance over the market, many people (as well as the government) were very wary of Microsoft and saw them as a hidden monopoly. This stirred up a lot of resentment towards Microsoft and its business, which culminated in the antitrust charges of 1998.
In 1998, Microsoft was charged by the Department of Justice with antitrust violations. The premise of the charges were that Microsoft was attempting to levy a monopoly over the market, which violated various laws. The fact that they gave their browser for free along with their operating system, which crushed a lot of their competitors, became a problem. The Department of Justice especially took notice when Netscape, a once dominant force in the browser market, was essentially destroyed by Microsoft and its new browser.
While many people supported the accusations, there was a large faction that opposed them as well. People argued that Microsoft did not carry monopolistic actions since downloading software and using their technology was a free choice that people made. The issue with this argument occurred when others started to argue that downloading other software on Windows was very difficult. So eventually, the case became more pinpointed on the issue over whether or not Microsoft intentionally attempted to make it hard for people to use other software on their computers.
After a long trial, Microsoft lost the case. Despite Bill Gates’ testimonies and attempts to bypass the prosecutors’ questioning, he was unable to save his company from the charges. As a result of the trial, Microsoft was broken up into smaller pieces which took away from their dominance of the industry. As a result of this, it paved the way for companies like Apple to rise without the a huge level of opposition as before.
In hindsight, the situation of Microsoft 15-20 years ago mimics that of today. Microsoft was charged with antitrust law violations, and the situation of Microsoft is similar to Google today. Many people argue that Google has a similar dominance over the industry, and the EU has even charged Google with antitrust violations. While not as publicized as before, the issue over the actions of the biggest technology companies still carries over into our modern technology industry.
Thanks for the interesting post Rushil. Your post made it clear how the whole Microsoft antitrust charges went down and what the outcome was. In a time when fascination with technology was rapidly increasing, it was obviously very easy for one company to come out on top and cement their place there. I was quite interested at your comparison between Microsoft 15-20 years ago and Google today. It is true that Google somewhat has a dominance over their industry, but I feel that Google does not have a monopoly over it to the extent that Microsoft did at their peak.
ReplyDeleteThis was a great post. I think it's interesting to see how Microsoft used to be such a powerful and great company, but has now fallen behind the much more prevalent Apple and Google, almost obsolete in the eyes of some. The UBS analyst Steven Milunovitch believes that Apple has replaced Microsoft as the new tech giant that holds a monopoly, accusing the company of doing so and pointing to figures such as their high prices for proof of his claims. http://www.businessinsider.com/apple-monopoly-ubs-steven-milunovich-2017-3
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