45 Judge Learned Hand agreed with the government that the Aluminum Co. of America had an unlawful monopoly and should be broken up. Aluminum Co. of America, the Judge wrote, was wrong to “always anticipate increases in the supply demand for (aluminum) ingot and be prepared to supply them. Nothing compelled it to keep doubling and redoubling its capacity before others entered the field. It insists that it never excluded competitors; but we can think of no more effective exclusion than progressively to embrace each new opportunity as it opened, and to face every newcomer with new capacity already geared into a great organization” (Jacoby, A6).As illustrated by the Aluminum Co. of America decision the Justice Department should punish Microsoft by splitting it into a Microsoft Explorer Company and a Software Company. The Microsoft Explorer Company would mainly make the web browser. Microsoft would be forced to take the browser out of Windows 95 because it would no longer be able to put it on the Windows system if they weren’t one company anymore. The Software Company would be in charge of making the Windows systems and games; anything but the web browser. Again, Mr. Rule says, "the theory behind this split is that the “market share” of a software product is much less significant than the typical market share possessed by a manufacturer of a producer of physical goods. Once written, a piece of software can be copied an infinite number of times at marginal cost. In other words, the productive “capacity” of every piece of software, once written, is virtually infinite, even if its current sales are minimal" (qtd. Rule, 3).Windows is very popular partly because it provides for thousands of Independent Software Vendors (“ISVs”). This is a valuable platform that simplifies the task of creating compatible applications. Also, millions of consumers have become familiar with the “l...
