Monopoly
Microsoft Corporation
Yan Xiaoli
A00363942
Principles of Microsoft-Fall 2012
Thomas Storring
Saint Mary’s University
Nov 6 2012
MICROSOFT CORPORAION As an American multinational corporation, Microsoft is regarded as the largest software maker measured by revenue in the software market. However, because Microsoft play an apparently dominate role in the market, more and more people argue that Microsoft have made damage on consumers’ profit through some marketing methods. As we know, Microsoft has been accused of being a monopolist by the antitrust department in US and Europe for almost over ten years. “Microsoft possesses (and for several years has possessed) monopoly power in the market for personal computer operating systems” the Justice Department declared blatantly in 1988.This paper will examine and analysis the reason why Microsoft is a monopoly, welfare implications as a monopoly and whether the government regulations is successful. Microsoft Corporation products a wide range of products relate to computing. If Microsoft products are divided into five parts, they are Windows, Office, Business solutions, Developers& IT pros and some other products like Windows phones, Internet explorer. From now, Microsoft plays a dominate role both in PC operating system and office suite system. According to the annual report of Microsoft in 2012, “over 50% of enterprise desktops PCs run Windows 7 and Office is now installed on over 1 billion PCs” is reported. This large company own approximately 94,000 employees and the revenue in 2012 by June 30 is 73,723 million. Why the Microsoft cooperation is a monopoly? “Microsoft monopoly is self evident if Justice Department’s lawyers are to be believed”, as demonstrated by McKenzie Richard B and Shughart II William F (1998). As the largest software company, produces products which is popular with people, there is no doubt that Microsoft is a significant
Yan Xiaoli
A00363942
Principles of Microsoft-Fall 2012
Thomas Storring
Saint Mary’s University
Nov 6 2012
MICROSOFT CORPORAION As an American multinational corporation, Microsoft is regarded as the largest software maker measured by revenue in the software market. However, because Microsoft play an apparently dominate role in the market, more and more people argue that Microsoft have made damage on consumers’ profit through some marketing methods. As we know, Microsoft has been accused of being a monopolist by the antitrust department in US and Europe for almost over ten years. “Microsoft possesses (and for several years has possessed) monopoly power in the market for personal computer operating systems” the Justice Department declared blatantly in 1988.This paper will examine and analysis the reason why Microsoft is a monopoly, welfare implications as a monopoly and whether the government regulations is successful. Microsoft Corporation products a wide range of products relate to computing. If Microsoft products are divided into five parts, they are Windows, Office, Business solutions, Developers& IT pros and some other products like Windows phones, Internet explorer. From now, Microsoft plays a dominate role both in PC operating system and office suite system. According to the annual report of Microsoft in 2012, “over 50% of enterprise desktops PCs run Windows 7 and Office is now installed on over 1 billion PCs” is reported. This large company own approximately 94,000 employees and the revenue in 2012 by June 30 is 73,723 million. Why the Microsoft cooperation is a monopoly? “Microsoft monopoly is self evident if Justice Department’s lawyers are to be believed”, as demonstrated by McKenzie Richard B and Shughart II William F (1998). As the largest software company, produces products which is popular with people, there is no doubt that Microsoft is a significant
References: Microsoft annual report of 2012: http://view.officeapps.live.com/op/view.aspx?src=http://www.microsoft.com/investor/reports/ar12/docs/2012_Annual_Report.docx McKenzie Richard B & Shughart II William F (1998), Is Microsoft a monopolist？ http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=13&hid=13&sid=cb822f92-5712-487e-91af-94eea12c3fb3%40sessionmgr11&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=aph&AN=1190614 Regan & Christopher (1982), Microeconomics-12th edition, HarperCollins Publishers P218, P222 Microsoft annual report of 2004 and 2005 http://www.microsoft.com/investor/reports/ar05/staticversion/10k_dl_dow.html http://www.microsoft.com/investor/reports/ar04/nonflash/10k_dl_main.html Goetz, Martin A (Jun 19, 1995), Is Microsoft out of control? The government has to stop Microsoft now http://search.proquest.com/docview/216031454?accountid=13908