MGSC05H3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Federal Trade Commission, Vaporware, Chinese Wall
Document Summary
The general consensus was that microsoft had replaced ibm as the most important single force in the entire computer industry. In june 1990, just four years after the company went public, the federal trade. Commission (ftc) informed microsoft that it was the target of an antitrust investigation. As mi(cid:272)(cid:396)osoft"s p(cid:396)odu(cid:272)t li(cid:374)e a(cid:374)d (cid:373)a(cid:396)ket sha(cid:396)es g(cid:396)e(cid:449), so did the (cid:272)o(cid:373)plai(cid:374)ts of its (cid:272)o(cid:373)petito(cid:396)s. Tales of how big green bullied partners, withheld vital information, disparaged competitors, and stalled the (cid:373)a(cid:396)ket (cid:271)(cid:455) a(cid:374)(cid:374)ou(cid:374)(cid:272)i(cid:374)g p(cid:396)odu(cid:272)ts lo(cid:374)g (cid:271)efo(cid:396)e the(cid:455) (cid:449)e(cid:396)e (cid:396)ead(cid:455) (cid:894)(cid:862)(cid:448)apo(cid:396)(cid:449)a(cid:396)e(cid:863)(cid:895). Mi(cid:272)(cid:396)osoft used its do(cid:373)i(cid:374)a(cid:374)t positio(cid:374) to sp(cid:396)ead (cid:862)fea(cid:396), u(cid:374)(cid:272)e(cid:396)tai(cid:374)t(cid:455), a(cid:374)d dou(cid:271)t(cid:863) a(cid:271)out its competitors (f. u. d. factor) to stop customers from buying rival products. The most prevalent (cid:272)o(cid:373)plai(cid:374)t, ho(cid:449)e(cid:448)e(cid:396), (cid:449)as the (cid:862)fake chi(cid:374)ese (cid:449)all(cid:863) (cid:271)et(cid:449)ee(cid:374) mi(cid:272)(cid:396)osoft"s s(cid:455)ste(cid:373)s a(cid:374)d appli(cid:272)atio(cid:374)s divisions. The rising volume of real or imagined grievances helped spur the biggest antitrust probe by the.
