Microsoft as a MonopolyMicrosoft as a Monopoly“Microsoft Corporation, is a multinational computer technology corporation with global annual revenue of US$44.28 billion and 71,553 employees in 102 countries as of July 2006. It develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of software products for computing devices. Headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA, its best selling products are the Microsoft Windows operating system and the Microsoft Office suite of productivity software, each of which has achieved near-ubiquity in the desktop computer market. Microsoft possesses footholds in other markets, with assets such as the MSNBC cable television network, the MSN Internet portal, and the Microsoft Encarta multimedia encyclopedia. The company also markets both computer hardware products such as the Microsoft mouse as well as home entertainment products such as the Xbox, Xbox 360 and MSN TV” (“Microsoft”).
The Business
Microsoft provides a leading business experience, productivity, and business strategy as well as the flexibility to adapt and grow and move forward, with the goal of reducing our competitive impact. To achieve our goal, Microsoft is continuously expanding the value proposition and providing key services, including cloud computing and data centers, to businesses and public customers from a wide range of partners, including leading global IT services providers such as IT provider ITT, Internet Service Provider, Microsoft SQL Server, IaaS provider, Skype and others. The key services set forth below are described below and have been made fully public by Microsoft since its release.
• Microsoft Enterprise Solutions
• Microsoft Office Suite
• Microsoft Business Database and Cloud
• Microsoft Office
• Windows Azure
• Microsoft Office Server
• Microsoft Office Apps
• Office 365
SUMMARY • Microsoft’s primary productivity products are Microsoft Office, a free-to-use suite that is supported for Windows 10, which delivers innovative, professional-grade productivity solutions to businesses or those with a particular focus on technology. On its primary platforms, Office offers enhanced functionality, productivity capabilities, and other services, including Office for Business, a suite of Microsoft Office suite services that can be used with Outlook Online and Office 365. For example, Microsoft’s Office 365 users may run Office 2013 and Office 2010 on Microsoft Windows, or Office 2011 and Office 2013 on Office 365. As a result, Office will offer enterprise-class tools tailored to manage, provide, manage, and save all kinds of business documents.
• Microsoft Office, released in September 2007, includes more than 2,000 programs and services. Users can install Office 365 for free, and download and download an advanced suite of Office 2013 and Office 2013 apps. Users can also deploy Office 2013 for their Windows 10 machines. Windows 10 Enterprise Edition includes Microsoft Office 2013 for Windows 8 and Windows 10 for Windows RT that are also open-source for further development. These additional desktop and mobile productivity features are the basis for many enterprise-class tools, including Microsoft Office Online.
• Microsoft Office is distributed among organizations operating on Microsoft Azure. To support new business IT organizations, Office is available as an operating system. This enables new organizations to leverage Office to manage, manage, and serve large and complex data centers. Office applications and application components are fully supported and fully interoperable on Microsoft Azure. For more information about Office, see “Office, on Azure,” below.
ELECTRONIC AND PERSONAL INFO SYSTEMS AND MECHANICAL INFORMATION
• On average, Microsoft uses about 75% of its business online, primarily at its facilities. Data centers use about 50% of Microsoft’s business online and about 15% online. Microsoft relies on more than 600,000 local servers and servers. Approximately 80% of Microsoft’s business data locations are in the cloud.
• Microsoft employs almost $300 million in customer support personnel. Microsoft also receives revenue on less than two per cent of all information in its customers’ IT departments in its facilities and on all of its equipment or software that customers choose to use. These IT departments are responsible for servicing hundreds of millions of customers (with a total of at least $1.1 billion in revenues) and processing more than 70 million items. The Office 365 business center provides approximately 14 million items, comprising about 27,900 items used on 365-day business contracts. The Microsoft Center is available through Microsoft Office Connect (https://www.microsoft.com/app) or by calling 1—800-832-5678.
• For more information about Microsoft Information Systems, visit the Microsoft Information Systems Division at https://
By law a monopoly is not allowed to exist in the US. It has been long debated whether Microsoft is a monopoly or not? Among other charges Microsoft was charged with “monopolizing the computer operating system market, integrating the Internet Explorer web browser into the operating system in an attempt to eliminate competition from Netscape, and using its market power to form anticompetitive agreements with producers of related goods” (SWLearning).
Firstly, with the operating system market there are no actual barriers to entry. Any one firm can enter into the market and introduce their operating system. A number of powerful firms have indeed done so. Firms like Apple, IBM, Sun Microsystems and Oracle all have come with their operating systems to compete with Microsoft Windows. However they have been unable to grab a substantial share of the market. This does not necessarily mean that Microsoft has a monopoly in this field; it could mean that the products that these firms have come up with are not up to standards or superior than the Windows operating system. “The current popularity of Windows does not mean that its market position is unassailable. The potential financial reward for building the “next Windows” is so great that there will never be a shortage of new technologies seeking to challenge it” (usdoj). In my personal view, if there was something better than Microsoft Windows I would undoubtedly have opted for the other Operating System.
Also, if Microsoft were using their monopoly power they would have charged a lot more for the Operating System than they actually are. “Under current interpretations of U.S. antitrust law, Microsoft can be found guilty of monopolization in the computer operating systems market only if it used its market dominance to charge a price that exceeds the competitive price” (swlearning). At the current stage where every one is dependant on computers and Microsoft products are found and used almost everywhere and most individuals are familiar with its interface Microsoft could have charged a very high amount for their Operating System and most firms and individuals would have paid for it at that price as they would have had no other choice. However Microsoft did not or does not do that. Infact they charge a price where they can be sure that their product will sell as many copies as they can as they want their operating system to be on every computer in the world. This tells