Microsoft – 541 words – College Essay Example

the government wants to force the creation of a series of smaller, duplicate companies, nicknamed "Baby Bills," that would compete against each other.

Breaking up Microsoft into smaller companies would be "stupid because it just creates confusion in the marketplace," said Michael Cusumano, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who has written about Microsoft's battle with the former Netscape Communications Corp. "The break-up sounds like a mess to me," he said. The market responded because Microsoft shares closed down 3-9/16 at 105-13/16 on Wednesday.

In November, U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson agreed with federal prosecutors in a preliminary finding that Microsoft stifled innovation in the computer industry. Prosecutors have charged the company used its dominant position in operating systems to coerce PC makers to use its software, especially its Internet browser.

A final ruling in the case is due next month. Meanwhile, the companies have held settlement talks with a federal mediator, but both sides have declined to comment on the talks. The disclosure that Justice favors a breakup comes on the heels of analyst firm, International Data Corp., concluding that splitting Microsoft into separate companies "would be best" for the nation's high-tech industry.

IDC called a voluntary breakup "a brilliant leapfrog maneuver that would time-warp the company into the next millennium with renewed purpose and a shining political patina." But the firm, in a report sent to software clients and obtained by the Associated Press, also predicted that "Microsoft will choose to settle the case before it will allow itself to be broken up."