I’m a computer geek, I admit. The way I see it is that Microsoft was at the right place at the right time. Unfortunately, they screwed up by trying to push ahead without thinking about what laws they should have been working around. It was pretty obvious that they had broken antitrust laws, and I’m surprised no one tried to find a solution before they were taken to court. After Windows came out, no home PC could be without it. It was so popular, that every software or hardware product was designed around it. There have been many other operating systems, but you can’t displace something so widespread. It’s like trying to replace VHS with Beta after VHS had been the main format for 5 years. It’s near impossible. So Microsoft tried to use that to their advantage and take other popular software products, such as Netscape’s internet browser, and displace it with their own product, and then bundle that product with Windows so that every single person with a PC was forced to have exposure to it. It makes perfect sense money wise, but someone should have been smart enough to realize that it was breaking some sort of law. Unfortunately, no one was and they had to fight it in court. Microsoft got off lucky in the first decision back in 2000. If they had to split into two companies, that would have been hard to recover from. They squeezed past that problem. Then when they had finalized a settlement, they got off pretty easy too. They didn’t have to divulge any actual source code or information about Windows, which would have been devastating for another company to create a Windows-clone. All they had to do is give out code and information for other companies to create software that would let their software use every important code and action in Windows so that it could run seamlessly, rather than trying to write their own code and try to make it work the best they could. Microsoft had to let OEMs and PC users remove Windows software if they wanted to.

Some topics in this essay:
Internet Explorer, Beta VHS, Justice Department, Judge Kollar-Kotelly, Microsoft Unfortunately, Explorer Windows, Antitrust Act, Judge Jackson, Manufacturers PC, , internet explorer, operating systems, competing software, companies sell, code information, justice department, deals oems, microsoft created, home pc, popular software,