operating systems to other companies.Microsoft has thrived on the ability to foresee and understand the computer needs of the average user. After Microsoft made their name with MS-DOS, they started work on a graphical based operating system much like Apple's Macintosh computer. They called it Windows. Windows "swept the market"(Clayton 452). By 1993 it was selling over 1 million copies a month "and Microsoft operating systems ran nearly 90 percent of the world's PC s"(Clayton). Microsoft had well achieved their goal of creating the standard for the industry(Jobs 50). However, because Microsoft enjoys a near monopoly, beginning in June of 1990, the "Federal Trade Commission, which shares antitrust jurisdiction with the Department of Justice, took the first crack, quietly opening an inquiry "(Cook 64). Many other software companies have "cheered"(Pain) the government and offered a deluge of help. One of the big complaints of computer manufacturers is that they "must agree to pay software royalties...for every computer they ship, regardless of whether the computer is sold with any Microsoft software." It is "an all or nothing deal"(Rohm 92). Steve Jobs, cofounder of Apple and founder of Next, calls Microsoft the "'small orifice' through which every other company must squeeze if it wants to participate in the PC market"(Schlender 41).After two years of investigation, "commissioners were deadlocked on whether to file an antitrust complaint"(Cook). However, antitrust chief Anne Bingaman continued the process with a high-profile investigation. After collecting information, conducting interviews, and talking to Gates, Microsoft signed an agreement that would require Microsoft to make "minor changes in the way it licenses DOS and Windows to computer manufacturers"(Cook). Federal District Court Judge Stanley Sporkin rejected the proposed statement. Bingaman continued the case. She hired Sam Miller, a trial lawyer from San Francisco law firm of M...
