The Microsoft Case Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 4

The Microsoft Case - Essay Example Additionally, it will be convincingly argued that Microsoft was indeed not a monopoly at the time of the investigation. Some key points that characterize a pure monopoly are the following: 1) only one firm in the market 2) significant barriers to entry exist 3) lack of substitute goods 4) firm is a price-maker. When one examines Microsoft of the late 1990’s, it becomes clear that although the company had a large share of the operating systems market captured, they were still far from being what could be literally considered a monopoly (Khan, 2004). Based on the previous metrics listed, Microsoft falls short on every single determinant. Additionally, although Microsoft offered a host of products that could tangentially be seen as working to squeeze out competition, they still did not maintain any measurable means of creating barriers to entry for firms wishing to take market share from their products. In fact, the major concern among many regulators was the fact that Microsoft improperly bundled many services that were also offered by competitors. As such, these suggestions were not against anti-trust laws but merely an aggressive form of business outreach and marketing to get consumers accosted to the products of the firm before they would become accustomed to the products of anothe r firm. Furthermore, the market demand for operating systems would have been marked by a downward sloping demand curve if indeed Microsoft had a monopoly power in the market. However, the opposite of this has indeed been proven to be the case. Doubtless, Microsoft as a firm was making massive amounts of profit during these and proceeding years. However, Microsoft could be viewed as enriching itself primarily from the correct application of economies of scale as opposed to having a death’s clasp on the market in a monopolistic way. Furthermore, operating systems are an exceedingly