Essay - Is Microsoft Really A Monoply? We at Microsoft Are Confident...

Is Microsoft Really a Monoply?

We at ***** are confident about our legal position. We believe that at the end of the judicial process, through whatever trial procedures or appellate ***** may be appropriate, we will have shown that Microsoft's creation and its broad distribution of an enormous amount ***** very innovative software has provided great benefit for the consumers around the world," announced Bill Nuekom, Executive Vice President Law & Corporate Affairs ***** Microsoft Incorporated. (Martinez)

Microsoft ***** been twisting in ***** out of the controversies surround*****g it by it being labeled a 'monopoly.' Although as far as marketing goes, ***** actions have been entirely normal competitive behavior. Microsoft respectfully disagrees with ***** court in its f*****dings with regard to the subject of monopoly, or monopoly power. ***** believes that ********** is no segment of the U.S. economy, ***** any economy in this world, that is more intensely competitive, that provides more rapid innovation for *****, than the industry ***** computer software. Everyone can see that Microsoft does not live the so-called "quiet life" of a monopoly. The company knows that it constantly faces smart, dedicated, well-resourced competitors, and ***** responded accordingly by making increasingly large investments in the research and development ef*****ts ***** bringing innovative products to market on shorter product cycles. And by constantly lowering the pricing ***** their technology they have done good for consumers; ***** is good for the *****.

***** story of ***** really began one day in 1975, when two fri*****s, Bill Gates and Allen saw an article in Popular Electronics describing a new "personal *****" called ***** MITS Altair 8800. The Altair was very different from the mainframe computers that people were used to back then. It was a build-it-yourself kit for hob*****ists—what arrived in the mail wasn't a fully assembled computer, just some bags of parts and a set ***** pho*****copied instructions. After a few days (or weeks) of soldering, you ended up with a ***** roughly the size ***** ***** breadbox, with rows of switches and blinking lights. It wasn't much to look at, ***** it was pretty much impossible to make it do anything useful, but right away these two revolutionary minds thought the ***** was the start of a revolution ***** would change ***** world.

***** "brain" ***** the Altair—the inexpensive Intel 8080 micro*****or—made possible a truly hum*****n-scale computer th***** could fit on a desk. In those days, ***** computers usually lived in air-conditi*****d glass rooms surrounded by trained technicians, that was an amazing achievement. To trans*****m that achievement into a breakthrough, the Altair needed software that could ***** it perform ***** computing tasks. That set Bill and Paul on the path to forming ***** own software company. They knew that microprocessors ***** become more ********** ***** less expensive, so the cost of ***** would come *****wn. They figured that would bring them w*****hin reach of far more people, ***** entrepreneurs to students to home users. And ***** c*****cluded ***** ***** would create a huge demand for *****ftware.