Ms Vs Doj Essay, Research Paper

I believe that Microsoft has the best intensions for society, because they are constantly developing the software market into a more competitive and challenging industry. Microsoft s success as a company is partly due to its commitment to making the best product possible and strategic business practices. The first reason Microsoft is not a monopoly is because of the standardized quality of its OS. Second is the intelligent business practices Microsoft has engaged in through many of its business partners. The legal issues of the alleged antitrust accusations from the department of justice are just totally overrated.

The standardized quality of MS Windows98 has really made the PC market as a whole take a rocket boost from the past. Most people who oppose this stance would say that standardizing a product wouldn t cause anything but a monopoly. This is fiction because people choose products that are simply reliable and of good quality. The success of Microsoft s operating system hasn t been used to cause a monopoly in the browser marker, but to increase the quality of their software. A statement from Bill Gates on the 7th of December stating I am proud of the work our people have done to bring the benefits of the Internet to consumers, and I am confident that the courts ultimately will uphold the importance of the freedom to innovate. The intensity of the Internet lies in it openness, freedom and incredible reach. It is physically impossible for any individual or company to be its controlling switch, as the number of Internet users continue to grow by easy access due to Internet technologies being added to quality operating systems such as Windows. Internet user will constantly demand high quality and maximum choice, and will travel to wherever they receive the best value for the money and time. As consumer interest in the Internet continues to grow, Microsoft s role will be what it always has been. Aimed to provide the software building blocks for a rich computing experience and to build into that software all of the open Internet standards, protocols and platforms services which enable developers to write great applications. Even though Microsoft has included Internet capabilities in its Windows operating system since the launch of Windows 95, the Windows platform also provides excellent support for other leading browsers besides Microsoft s own Internet Explorer.

The software industry is one of the great catalysts of economic growth and job creation. Over the past eight years, the number of software companies and jobs in this country has doubled. Competition is incredibly fierce, and consumers are benefiting through better products and constant innovation. Companies like Sun Microsystems would say that Microsoft stifles innovation in the software industry and strong-arms PC makers and Web content provider into supporting its software. In reality its Microsoft s smart business practices has enabled them to become the successful company is today and not because of strong-arms or unfair strategies. One particular situations with Sun Microsystems and the government allege that Microsoft saw Java s cross-platform capabilities as a threat to the popularity of its Windows operating system, and tried to sabotage the technology. But according to Microsoft Dr. James Gosling, the inventor of Java, admitted in his testimony that Sun s write once, run anywhere promise of complete cross-platform compatibility is nothing more than a marketing term. He also added that it often doesn t refer to the entire program, I mean, really it s sort of a goal that applies to as much of the program as is realistically possible. While Sun failed to deliver on Java s write once and run anywhere promises to software developers, Microsoft succeeded in creating technology that not only allows Java developers to take advantage of advanced features in Windows, but also provides the best environment for running cross-platform applications written in the Java language. Following what was written in an article on www.microsoft.com, Microsoft s Java strategy is simple in that their committed to meeting the demands of both consumers and developers. To that they have devoted a lot of resources to making sure developers can take advantage of the rich features of the Windows platform when they are writing Java applications. At the same time, Microsoft s Java products let developers and consumers write and run cross-platform Java applications if that s what they choose to do. Microsoft is fulfilling its contract with Sun by developing the best and fastest Java implementation for the Windows platform. Microsoft is not responsible for Java s failure to live up to Sun s dream of universal compatibility, which I say is a dream that even some of Sun s closet partners now realize to be unrealistic.

Legal arguments and authorities, as well as substantial evidence supporting the arguments show how Microsoft has not done the accusations by the government. For example, how Netscape has been prevented by any of the Microsoft conduct at issue from utilizing numerous available channels to distribute its web browsing software broadly to consumers. In actuality a user of Windows 98 can install Netscape s web browsing software and use it to browse the Web. An article on www.microsoft.com, said there are currently somewhere between 40 and 70 million users of unlimited distribution allowing Netscape to distribute many copies and the number continues to grow in recent years. One overwhelming outcast to this case is that the Government has not evidence to prove, that the software code in Windows98 that provides web-browsing functionality is a separate product. The DOJ have tried to prove a traditional tying claim, but it failed because they were not able to prove that Windows and IE technologies are separate products, that any OEM has been forced to purchase a separate product or that Microsoft has done anything to foreclose Netscape s ability to distribute its web browsing software. Many in opposition have said that OEM has sought to remove IE from Microsoft s OS. As a reply Microsoft said, There is no evidence that any OEM has sought to remove IE technologies in their entirety from Windows95 and Windows98, or that OEM s which to offer computers that include operating systems software without any web browsing capability. Even if there are customers who wish to limit or foreclose web-browsing capability on their machines, the government has not shown that consumers do not want operating systems incorporating the other benefits arising from the integration of web browsing software into operating systems.

I once again believe that Microsoft still has the best potential for society and the software industry, because of the standardized quality, intelligent business practices, and false claims that try and corrupt Microsoft. I also believe in what Bill Gates said in an article that they show their customers and business partners that the Internet is at the core of everything done at Microsoft. Also how the Internet was the wave of the future and described how Microsoft has already begun to build Internet technology into virtually all of our products, to benefit both consumers and software developers. It would have been the ultimate paradox if Microsoft hadn t put browser support into the operating systems. Customers would have been the losers if Microsoft hadn t supported Internet standards fully in Windows. It s unfortunate that the government is listening to the alliance of IBM, SUN, AOL, and Oracle and ignoring all the ways Microsoft s efforts to help consumers move forward. A person has to really ask themselves the question, who is the DOJ representing a handful competitors or the consumers? As Microsoft continues to evolve the Internet technologies in Windows is great for consumers and great for thousands of software companies. Coincidentally, that s why Microsoft find themselves in court today. I believe Microsoft should continue to improve technologies, as many consumers decide that their product are better, it s just the way competition is supposed to work.