The Microsoft Case Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 2

The Microsoft Case - Essay Example The company was involved with zero marginal price deals with computer producers that brought stiff competition in the market because other companies would not meet this zero marginal price. According to the Kiang (2010), the company was illegally leveraging its monopoly power in the operating systems market by giving its applications programmers with unfair lead time. The company was involved a with license agreement in which conditions had minimum commitments that amounted to exclusive dealings by the monopolist. Moreover, the antirust behavior investigation was as a result of claims by Novell that the company was unlawfully trying DOS windows in the market. The Microsoft managed to hide some interfaces from third party applications software firms and it intentionally sent error messages to users of other software when users tried to use it in combination with Microsoft’s operating system. Finally, the investigation was carried because the company had bought Intuit Company that had a market share of 90 percent. However, the merger would take the market structure from being duopoly to a monopoly, but Microsoft Company abandoned plans from the merger several weeks after the suit was brought that led to investigation of antitrust behavior of the company in the market. By tying to purchase the Intuit Company that had largest shares in the market, I agree the company was trying to adopt the monopoly power in the computer software industry. The company wanted to be a price taker in the market that could result into imperfect competition over other firms in the industry (Mukherje, 2010). Meanwhile, the company option of zero marginal price to its manufacturers show that it wanted to gain the monopoly market structure due to its marginal revenue that are greater than marginal cost. According to Hall and Lieberman (2005), the demand curve of the monopoly company slopes downward because the

Will Machines Replace The Human Race Research Paper

Will Machines Replace The Human Race - Research Paper Example The widespread phenomenon, however, provides a biased and one sided view. This paper aims to rebut this conception about human vs. robots debate. Waters and Waters (1995 p. 86) provides that the wide use of robots and machines in the modern environment may lead to massive amounts of unemployment. The computers, other machines and robots are able to tackle most of the tasks that were traditionally performed by human beings. This replacement of human tasks has reduced the need of labor force in the work environment. However, the complete replacement of human beings with robots or any kind of machinery is impossible to achieve. If we assume or take the position of people who presume robots as a replacement of human power and need for the organizations and other areas of life, it is quite obvious that robots are not able to perform every task which they are directed to perform. The main distinction between a human being and a robot is the ability to think, evaluate and form judgments on those thoughts and feelings. Human beings perform a task keeping their thoughts, views and personal likes influencing them. The Robots, however, perform the task in the exact manner that they are programmed to do so (Kids can press 2008 p. 37). Robots lack thinking and critical viewing which are essential for human beings in order to face, tackle and go through every situation in their lives (Shelly et al., 2010 pp. 209-216). Machines are man-made. The simple phenomenon which rejects any power or force given to the machines over humans is the reliance of machines on human beings for their performance, existence and instructions. The machines and robots are human made and they are incapable of performing any task which is out of their programming. A human, on the other hand, has the ability to perform every task assigned to them. They have the power to think, plan and perform the tasks assigned to them. Human beings are not reliant on any kind of programming to perform the entirely d ifferent tasks. They can perform home chores as well as the business activities which are totally different things yet they do not require any new programming or alteration in their regular mechanisms unlike machines. Machines and robots are entirely dependent on how human beings program and use them. They have a unlimited number of tasks which they can perform with new programs installed in them by the human beings. They can perform life-risking tasks which human beings cannot since robots are not living things. They are machine-based human figures (McMeans 2010, pp. 185-187). The media plays an important role in setting up views and altering the perceptions of human beings. The movies and shows which promote the view of robots and machines overrunning the human race are merely exaggerating the idea and use of machines. The concept of technologies and their use is not truly exposed in the movies and shows which recently portray how machines and robots may rule over human beings (Sc alzi 2005). The machines and technological advancements may be of less importance or benefit for one group but the group which is benefitting from them is much larger. The machines are promoted, developed and used by human beings. They have the power to create and destroy them, however, the extreme integration of machines in our lives leaves no space for us to eliminate the use of machines. The robots are developed to perform a particular task in any field. The robots are used in the households to help the mothers and other family members in the routine work. Robots are also used for commercial purposes like in the businesses in packing, data saving or any other field. The use of robots in battle fields is also common (Safford 1978). Robots are used in aircrafts in wars to keep the