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A software company. Despite a feeling that it is
impossible for any one organisation to own the internet, none is likely to
comecloser than Microsoft. Much has been made of Bill Gates's apparent
failure to appreciate the importance of the internet in 1995, when Microsoft
seemed irreversibly committed to its proturnaround surprised even those
accustomed to Gates's willingness and ability to change the direction of his
business.
Within months of the launch of the first version of
netscape's navigator, Microsoft had bought a browser from a rival
company, ditched its original plans for msn and embarked on a massive
phase of grouth by acquisition and development that shows no sign of
stopping. In less than five years, the firm made a fortune from its
ms-dos and windows products took control of the browser market
from Netscape, the company that invented it ; even the most conservative
studies show that internet explorer now has well over 90% of the
market and communications companies, to the extent that it has at least a
foot, and often several limbs, in every door. In the process, it has
attracted the ire of the US Department of Justice and more or less every
company with which it does business, even those with which it does not
directly compete, such as pc manufacturers.
Microsoft's dour and unflattering antitrust battle in the US courts
highlighted the extent to which it has dominated its business partners and
competitors with the ubiquitous windows. But Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson's
decisions in 2000 that the company had broken US antitrust law and that it
should be broken up into competing divisions were subsequently overturned on
appeal. Microsoft eventually settle the case brought by the government, much
to the annoyance of the many companies and states that had brought their own
antitrust cases against the software giant. They argue that none of the
original aims of the litigation-- to prevent Microsoft tinkering with
windows to the detraction of its competitors, and to force it to produce
stripped-down versions of its operating system that allow other companies to
install their own programs in place of Microsoft's own-has been met, and
that it remains free to dominate and manipulate markets as it has done for
decades. But some concessions have been made, especially towards pc
manufacturers, all of which Microsoft must now treat on equal terms. They
can also choose to pre-install non-Microsoft browsers and other programs on
their machines prior to sale, thus giving consumers the choice that
Microsoft's detractors claimed it had denied them.
Microsoft is unlikely to become a less fierce competitor as a
result of the rulings against it. It is still facing dozens of antitrust and
class-action suits, and its practices are being investigated by the
European Union. But it is showing signs that it is taking a less predatory
role in the computing ecosystem , promising to forge closer links with
governments and competitors and to spend $5 billion on research. Meanwhile,
Microsoft persists in its efforts to stay at the centre of the internet
economy, continuing to develop a dizzying array of internet-enabled products
and services that remain popular with the people who use them. Msn,
the company's portal, was the web's second most visited site in February
2003, with over 45m unique visitors, just 5m fewer than aol. |
