soft operating systems, there are about a hundred other choices for operating systems, all of which have the ability to replace Microsoft if the people wanted them. But they don’t, the people for the most part want Microsoft operating systems. For this reason, I don’t take the excuse that Microsoft has gained their popularity through illegal measures. They simply created products that the people liked, and the people bought them. On the other side of the issue, are the people who believe that Microsoft is indeed operating in a monopolistic manner and therefore, the government should intervene and split Microsoft up. Those who are under the assumption that Microsoft should indeed be split up, believe that they should either be split into two separate companies: one dealing with operating systems and the other dealing strictly with applications. The other group believes that the government should further split Microsoft up into three divisions: one company to create operating systems, one company to create office applications, and one company to create applications for the home. All of these people agree that Microsoft should be split up, anyway possible. The first thing that proponents of Microsoft being split up argue that although Microsoft has created all kinds of standards for the computer software industry, in today’s world, we don’t necessarily need standards. Competing technologies can coexist in today’s society, without the need for standards set by an external body or by a lone company such as Microsoft. A good analogy for this position is given in the paper, "A Case Against Microsoft: Myth Number 4." In this article, the author states that people who think that we need such standards, give the example of the home video cassette industry of the late 1970’s. He says that these people point out that in the battle between the VHS and Beta video formats, VHS won not because it was a superior produ...
