the alleged charges, but were able to escape any type of formal punishment such as fines and the like. The settlement that Microsoft agreed to prohibits it, for the next six and a half years from: Charging for its operating system on the basis of computer shipped rather than on copies of MS-DOS shipped; Imposing minimum quantity commitments on manufacturers; Signing contracts for greater than one year; Tying the sale of MS_DOS to the sale of other Microsoft products;(Maldoom 1) Although these penalties look to put an end to all of Microsoft’s evil practices, some people think that they are not harsh enough and that Microsoft should have been split up to put a stop to any chance of them forming a true monopoly of the operating system market and of the entire software market. On one side of the issue, there are the people who feel that Microsoft should be left alone, at least for the time being. I am one of these people, feeling that Microsoft does more good than bad, thus not necessitating their breakup. I feel this way for many reasons, and until Microsoft does something terribly wrong or illegal, my opinion will stay this way. First and foremost, Microsoft sets standards for the rest of the industry to follow. Jesse Berst, editorial director of Windows Watcher newsletter out of Redmond, Washington, and the executive director of the Windows Solutions Conference, says it best with this statement: "To use a railroad analogy, Microsoft builds the tracks on which the rest of the industry ships its products." ("Why Microsoft (Mostly) Shouldn’t Be Stopped." 4) With Microsoft creating the standards for the rest of the computer industry, they are able to create better standards and build them much faster than if an outside organization or committee were to create them. With these standards set, other companies are able to create their applications and other products that much faster, and better, and thus the customers receive that ...
