ed in 1975 by Paul Allen and Chairman Bill Gates, Microsoft's Windows operating system is currently being used on 90 percent of the world's personal computers. As early as 1989, The Federal Trade Commission began an antitrust investigation of Microsoft. The agency alleged that Microsoft's pricing policies illegally constrained competition and that it deliberately placed programming codes in its operating system to hinder competing applications. In 1994, though Microsoft claiming it had done no wrong, reached an agreement. The basis of which involved Microsoft's per processor licensing agreements. In order to use the Microsoft platform and to receive a discounted price, hardware vendors agreed to pay royalties to Microsoft for each personal computer containing a certain type of processor, even if the computer used a different operating platform. Microsoft is on trial again. The Department of Justice claiming that Microsoft has violated Sections 1 and 2 of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act. However, there are two sides to the story. CEO Bill Gates is claiming that his company is innocent. Gates and others claim Microsoft's dominance is result of product superiority and continued innovation not conspiracy. Asserting that rapid change in the technology industry makes creating and maintaining the position of a monopoly impossible. The heart of the case, however, does not question the market share held by Microsoft but how the company obtained that share and the practices involved dealing with its competitors. Among those testifying against Microsoft, are competitors Netscape, who allege that Microsoft illegally hindered Netscape's method of distributing it's browser Navigator, Sun Microsystems, who claim Microsoft introduced programming codes to "pollute" it's language Java, similar claims were made by RealNetworks CEO Rob Glaser. Glaser claimed that Microsoft intentionally disabled his company's software to eliminate the competition. Should the Ju...
