Microsoft Windows Case Study

Microsoft released Windows XP on October 25,2001, unifying the mainstream and NT lines under the NT codebase. Later that year,the company released the Xbox, entering the game console market which was dominated by Sony and Nintendo. In March 2004 the European Union brought antitrust legal action against the company, citing that it has abused its dominance with Windows OS, resulting in a judgment of €497 million ($613 million) and to produce the new versions of Windows XP without Windows Media Player, Windows XP Home Edition N and Windows XP Professional N. The next version of Windows was released in 2007 named as Windows Vista. In 2008, Bill Gates retired from the position of Chief Software Architect. Microsoft announced its intent to open

A new competitor is ‘’Netscape’’. Microsoft attempted to remove competition by entering into an agreement with Netscape that they should not compete with Microsoft. Browsers pose a threat to Microsoft. Now Microsoft is the third largest maker of mobile phones. Microsoft also provides IT consulting and many certification programs which is handled by Server and Tools Division. The Board of directors are elected every year at the annual meeting of the shareholders by majority vote system. There are five committees namely Finance Committee, Audit Committee, Governance and Nominating Committee, Antitrust Compliance Committee and Compensation Committee. During the Initial Public offer in 1986, the stock price was $21 and after the trading day it was $27.75 and it peaked at around $119 in 1999. Though the share dividends increased but the value of stock remained

In 2012, Microsoft adopted a new logo indicating that the company shifted its focus from the traditional style to modern interface. Microsoft spent hundreds of millions to test and develop Internet Explorer. Microsoft has entered into anticompetitive agreement with Internet Content Provider. Microsoft’s market share is so huge that t can be termed as a monopoly.

A case against Microsoft:

In 1994, US filed a case against Microsoft for maintaining a monopoly for PC operating systems and that Microsoft entered into anticompetitive agreement. The judgment stated that Microsoft could not indulge in such anticompetitive practices that restricted the competition. Netscape Navigator was the first internet browser to be used by general public. Microsoft responded by introducing its very own internet browser which was introduced in 1994. Microsoft released its initial version of Internet Explorer in July 1995 and then Micrsoft released its three