Many people, with the government are trying to label Microsoft as a monopoly. Why is there any delay going around doing that? There is no reason to brand Microsoft as a monopoly. There is part of monopolistic competition and supply-demand acting on this case.The whole trial is about the free internet browser, Internet Explorer, that Microsoft gives out free and includes with its Operating system, Windows. Netscape does the same marketing of its product except that it does not have any operating system to sell with. Netscape is a relatively older browser and prior to Internet Explorer, there was only one browser, Netscape. There have been innumerous upgrades and newer versions of these browsers since Internet Explorer’s launch in the market. The computer industry is very volatile in itself. Any literate programmer could develop better operating system or browser in the near future. If his/her product is good and he/she have proper marketing available he/she could become the next monopolistic. The industry itself changes with its needs. Innumerous companies in the past have enjoyed monopolist markets like IBM, Intel, and AT&T. As of today, these past “monopolists” are a part of the industry and no longer are monopolists. No firm can restrict the entry of any other firm into this field (at least of free browsers) except by direct interference and/or by merging, to which there are anti trust laws restricting those activities. Any firm could loose its monopolist position if it looses its power over a key resource. Here, the key resource is knowledge, which is unlimited and unrestricted. Microsoft has been monopolist in this field for a longer period because of its evolution and enhancement of its products. Netscape would have been in power if it had thought of more upgrades and improved quality. The government’s role is to prevent harmful monopoly. A harmful monopoly arises when a company starts abusing its power as...
