U . S . vs . Microsoft : A Study of Consolidation Forces

The United States Department of Justice and Microsoft Corporation are engaged in a vigorous legal dispute over the inclusion of Internet technologies in Windows 95. This dispute, however, is merely the most recent antitrust case brought against a hightechnology company in recent times, and it follows a great deal of history regarding competition in high-technology industries. This thesis explores these issues through a review of the history of antitrust laws, the regulation of industries that inevitably are monopolized due to market forces, and the process of standardization in technological fields. This review concludes that while the current Justice Department action is unlikely to succeed, Microsoft is vulnerable to antitrust action, and, in fact, a number of Microsoft's business practices are similar to practices that were challenged decades ago when used by such companies as IBM and Xerox. In addition, although it does not appear inevitable that a single company monopolize the operating system market for a given type of computer, it is unclear whether Microsoft's monopoly is so entrenched that it has become irreversible. Thesis Supervisor: Randall Davis Title: Professor of Computer Science and Engineering