Operating System and Microsoft Corporation Essay

Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational software corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services related to computing. The company was founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen on April 4, 1975. Microsoft is the world’s largest software maker measured by revenues.[3] It is also one of theworld’s most valuable companies.[4] Microsoft was established to develop and sell BASIC interpreters for the Altair 8800. It rose to dominate the personal computeroperating system market with MS-DOS in the mid-1980s, followed by the Microsoft Windows line of operating systems. The company’s 1986 initial public offering, and subsequent rise in its share price, created an estimated three billionaires and 12,000 millionaires from Microsoft employees. Since the 1990s, it has increasingly diversified from the operating system market and has made a number of corporate acquisitions. In May 2011, Microsoft acquired Skype Technologies for $8.5 billion in its largest acquisition to date.[5] As of 2012, Microsoft is market dominant in both the PC operating system and office suite markets (the latter with Microsoft Office). The company also produces a wide range of other software for desktops and servers, and is active in areas including internet search(with Bing), the video game industry (with the Xbox and Xbox 360 consoles), the digital services market (through MSN), and mobile phones (via the Windows Phone OS). In June 2012, Microsoft announced that it would be entering the PC vendor market for the first time, with the launch of the Microsoft Surface tablet computer. In the 1990s, critics began to contend that Microsoft used monopolistic business practices and anti-competitive strategies includingrefusal to deal and tying, put unreason able restrictions in the use of its software, and used misrepresentative marketing tactics; both the U.S. Department of Justice and European Commission found the company in violation of antitrust laws. Microsoft is the undisputed leader in the market for operating systems (Sheremata 1997). The Microsoft Corporation has produced the vast majority of operating systems for all personal computers (PCs); moreover, operating systems that Microsoft has created are Windows95, Windows 3.1, and DOS. They also have produced the leading spreadsheet and word processors for both Windows and Macintosh operating systems. They own 85% of the market share with their office software Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Microsoft Exchange, and Microsoft Access. Not surprisingly, most of us have used some if not all of these products and/ or services provided by the Microsoft Corporation. How did the Microsoft Corporation develop into a software monopoly? For the most part, one or several combinations of the following forge monopolies: an amalgamation of smart business decisions, mistakes by competitors, and at times some shady tactics that a company might employ to become a market leader and monopoly of today. Microsoft had its beginning during the 1970s when IBM was the computer hardware giant of the industry. In 1975 Microsoft was the producer of programming languages for MIPS Altair 7500 (Conigliaro1996). In 1981, Microsoft purchased an operating system for an Intel based 8086 chip from a small company named Seattle Computer Products and redesigned its product to sell it to license it to IBM for its new personal computer (PC) (Conigliaro1996). The redesigned product was released under the name MS DOS 1.0. IBM being a monopoly at that time in the hardware department, by allowing Microsoft to provide the operating system to its PCs, then an outside source, relinquished control of the software industry to this up-and-coming powerhouse. Microsoft retained the right to license their operating system to other manufacturers and helped spur the massive IBM clone industry. Microsoft became one of the leaders in the computer industry during the 1980s with the help of technologies that help provide PCs for an information hungry age and with Microsoft providing the operating systems for a high percentage of the PCs sold. By the late 1980s, Microsoft controlled the operating system market; versions of MS-DOS ran over 80% of personal computers (Conigliaro1996). However, Microsoft did not control any of the application markets, this honor went to Lotus, which at the time had the top spreadsheet, 1-2-3 and WordPerfect had the leading word processors, WordPerfect. When Microsoft introduced Microsoft Windows 3.1 in the 1990s, it locked in Microsoft in the driver seat for what is now the software monopoly that exists. Soon after, Microsoft introduced Excel 3.0 for Windows and Word for Windows 2.0. Lotus and WordPerfect did not realize the effects that Windows 3.0 would have on the industry and did not plan ahead for the evolution (Gleick 1995). The claim has also been made that Microsoft used its control over the operating system and graphical user interface markets to help growth in the applications market. Some executives spoke of the â€Å"Chinese Wall†, that is some of the developers learned to take advantage of the operating system before other companies could who did not have the access (Gleick 1995). They were also accused of when introducing new technology called object linking embedding (OLE) in Windows, they would provide the technology to Excel 3.0 developers to incorporate it into Excel before the technology was available to other companies. Making it possible for applications on a system to work with other applications made by Microsoft before competitors could have a chance to compete and provide the same or a comparable application. With the introduction of Windows 3.1 (an update on 3.0) and Microsoft having the edge, Microsoft’s Excel, Word and Office started to dominate the application market. The dawn of Microsoft the monopoly empire was on the horizon. In the 1990s Microsoft began to diversify with its dominance over the application and operating systems it began to get into producing products for multimedia, business operation systems, and now even games and online services. They have been accused of shady business practices when they attempted to purchase Intuit, the software company that owns Quicken, the world’s most popular personal finance manager. And Microsoft’s pairing Windows 95 with The Microsoft Network, both moves are threatening to new competitors because of the barriers they create. They also generate risks to innovation and competition through the entire industry. Microsoft has used its power as the leader in the market with operating systems to grow into the power that it is now. A combination of good business tactics, regretful business choices by competitors, and finally Microsoft using its new power has made Microsoft untouchable by competitors. We have several examples of monopolies in our past as a nation, and we have found that monopolies have a tendency to stiffen innovation. With computer systems innovation is important to continue and stay ahead of the market. The example we can think about is IBM, when IBM split its business it opened the door to several new businesses that have only helped society. Is Microsoft going to help society if it is ordered to split? We can only wait and see. By making Microsoft split it will open the door to new ideas from small entrepreneurs that might have the next great operating system. # Microsoft has long enjoyed Olympian profit margins, using its monopoly power to maintain prices on its software even in tough times. But now, amid a terrible downturn and rising competition, CEO Steven A. Ballmer is shifting to a scrappier approach. He is cutting prices on a variety of fronts, from flagship Windows and Office products to newfangled Internet services. The idea is to accept lower margins in some businesses but boost overall earnings by going after a grab bag of growth opportunities. These range from expanding its share of big companies’ software purchases to lowering the price of Office software so consumers in emerging markets pay for it rather than pirate it. With the outlook so cloudy, â€Å"we’re focusing on gaining share in those areas that are most critical,† says Stephen A. Elop, who heads the business division. On July 13, Elop demonstrated the new Office 2010 in New Orleans. While Microsoft expects most customers to pay for the program the way they always have, less powerful, ad-supported versions will be available free on the Web. The company is also charging a monthly fee for online applications, such as the e-mail program Exchange, which is about a third as profitable as selling the software on CDs. And on Oct. 22, Microsoft’s new Windows 7 PC operating system will go on sale in stores for $40 less than the $240 it charged when it launched its Vista program in 2007—the biggest price cut on a new version of Windows in years. All of these moves amount to a risky experiment in price elasticity. By lowering prices, the company hopes to increase sales of existing products while making fast headway with new ones. If the company can gain enough market share to cover its massive costs in Web services and Internet search—notably, its vast data centers—every extra dollar will be pure profit. â€Å"I’m not saying it will be easy,† says Ballmer. â€Å"But we have great opportunities to grow total profit dollars.† ONLY $29 IN CHINAMicrosoft is cutting the price of Office and offering the free versions of Word, Excel, and other programs to head off competition from Google and other rivals that offer similar software at little or no cost. Microsoft has so many promotions for Office that its effective price is $100, down from $150, and even lower in such countries as Brazil and India. But the experience is sparking optimism at Microsoft about the new strategy. The company says unit sales of Office surged 415% in the second half of last year. The most aggressive price cut has come in China, where Microsoft says 95% of Office installations have been pirated. Since it began testing a $29 offer in China last September, sales have soared morethan 800%. The low price was â€Å"like taking firewood from under the cauldron† of piracy, says Liu Tianxiang, a vice-president with Beijing Federal Software, a Chinese software distributor. He figures Microsoft has sold 80,000 copies of Office in China since the trial started. Now Microsoft intends to make the low price permanent. Not surprisingly, Microsoft continues to hunt for ways to offset price cuts. It hopes to boost the bottom line by encouraging Windows 7 software users to upgrade more often. Since the program CD will come loaded with multiple versions, users who buy the cheaper Starter edition can easily pay later to get premium features. Of course, that risks annoying users—when rivals such as Google are trying to lure customers with cheaper alternatives. But in the current economy, there’s no risk-free way to stay ahead.

Bank of America case analysis Essay

Problem statement The main problem in this case is that whether bank of America add the complicate app and add more new features or not. If they add the new complexity application, it could cost lot of money, and it could also give their users some negative effect. Like the case described â€Å"it is unclear if users were ready to sign up for mortgages or credit cards on their mobile phones.† BofA concerns about how the mobile banking affect their customers. Because behavioral factor is very important that made people to accept the new things reluctantly or not. From the market survey we know that there are three main reasons that people not to use the mobile banking: concerns of security, cost of data, less value. So if bank of America want to add their new app or add more futures, they should cope with those three factors at first. Recommendation I think bank of America should add new apps, because they can get improvement about their customer loyalty and satisfaction, and they can gain more market share form this way. If they didn’t build it, maybe they will behind that of other banks. Another reason is that with the development of the communication technology, there will be have full of the customers have their smartphone rather than the regular phones, so it can give bank of America more confidence to add app for smartphone customers. One of the most reasons for people not using mobile banking is the security concern. So how to improve security on people’s mobile devices has become a very important thing. They can make an external device for their mobile banking. The external device can insert into the headphone jack on smartphone. After the connection, customer should slide their card, and then system will be prompted to enter some personal authentication information, and then will send a message for their s martphone to get the verification code before use the mobile banking to do their account activities. Customer can get this external device for free if they open an account at bank of America. But if they lost it they should pay it for $30 to get another. This external device can make sure that customers don’t have to worry about security issues. With this security problem solved, BofA will gain more customers and more market shares.

Why are the words of the blues so important Essay

Why are the words of the blues so important - Essay Example Blues are normally characteristic of songs that convey the deep struggles of the black people in several aspects of life, particularly the ones that occur to reflect the bitter past on account of their historical and racial conflicts during the times of the Civil War and the War on Independence prior. Through world history, it has become widely known that blacks had a significant number of excruciating encounters of slavery, social injustice, sex and labor abuse, as well as other forms of oppression, being treated as an inferior race and all these, apparently, constitute the lyrical blues quite specific to them. On this ground, the words of the blues acquire profound essence as they collectively embody the nature and identity of the blacks in association to their ordeals, sufferings, adventures, and indifference to the superior race through times. As a concrete instance, when Bill Lucas sings â€Å"I’m just a poor boy; people, I can’t even write my name / Every letter in the alphabet to me they look the same †¦ I just been a poor boy; ain’t caught nothing but hell†, he sings to the true beat of black rhythm that speaks of poverty and lack of academic opportunity due to color discrimination, affecting many black communities including his family whose main wage source comes from farming. 2. Why were work songs important to the slaves and later to African Americans who worked in the fields? Look at the lyrics of Rosie. What do these lyrics say about the African American culture of the time? (6 points) Based on J.T. Titon’s findings, â€Å"the song ‘Rosie’ was used to regulate the axe blows when the workers were felling large trees .. Without work songs, the white and Latino inmates chopped two to a tree – With work songs, the black inmates chopped four, six, eight, or ten to a tree.† This scenario illustrates how the prison workers derive inspiration to do heavy work or duty efficiently through wor k songs. In the song ‘Rosie’, the lines â€Å"Be my woman, gal, I’ll be your man †¦ When she walks she reels and rocks behind† indicate the fondness of African American culture on love and romance, especially the manner in which men express intense devotion to the women they love so that romantic themes in work songs enhance the motivating effect of rhythms. Similarly, in the past, black slaves and African Americans of the later age had sung work songs for the positive influence these songs create on their attitude, becoming disposed to higher level of productivity at work and gaining more sense of solidarity and fulfilment as music brought workmates together toward warm companionship in order to drive away anxieties and accomplish larger amount of tasks. 3. What roles does music play in the religious service described in the first part of the chapter in your text? What is the Deacon’s Devotional? What is whooping? How is this type of religious service connected to African rituals we’ve looked at? (8 points) In the religious service music, as music of worship, functions as a powerful element of devotion and a means to grow further in spiritual faith and loyalty to the church as such music guides and moves the people of the church to solemn thoughts and positive energy levels by which to expel the daily troubles of life. Black churches normally possess the most compelling music of worship out of â€Å"modern gospel quartets, powerful massed choirs, and soloists† whose enthusiastic and emotional singing performance may be observed as highly

Human sexuality Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 2

Human sexuality - Essay Example Golanty and Edlin (196) describe experiment where persons got alcohol with tonic or tonic without alcohol, and it was told to the randomly taken subjects that they drink alcohol. These persons, regardless whether their drinks contained alcohol or not, demonstrated sexual desire. Alcohol decreases the level of self-control of increases the level of aggression. ‘Alcohol myopia’ when a person ignores negative consequences and is focused on the sexual context is a known result of the alcohol consumption (Bancroft 406). As alcohol decreases control of own behavior, it becomes one of the strongest predictors of the sexual aggression (Rosental 412). Alcohol is just a symbol of establishing the proper sexual behavior. Biological impact of alcohol is harmful for the human sexuality. Chronic alcoholism is the main risk factor. Alcohol decreases sexual desire for both male and female. The most commonly reported problem for male alcoholics is erectile dysfunction. Ejaculatory incompetence, erectile impotence and premature ejaculation occur less frequently. Typical problems of the female alcoholics are lack of orgasm, lack of sexual interest, lack of sexual arousal or pleasure, lack of lubrication, painful intercourse and muscular spasms (Aluko et al. 1281). The mechanisms of alcohol’s impact on the human sexuality are not well understood. It acts as depressant and sedates on the brain cells decelerating the brain activity. The researches results show that chronic intake of alcohol may significantly decrease the level of testosterone for male persons. The low level of testosterone can be a possible explanation for the sexual dysfunctions of male alcoholics. Another effect of alcohol the retardation of blood congestion and swelling in the genitals, as well as decrease of the vaginal blood volume. It can explain the erectile dysfunction due to altered blood flow to genitalia and/or

Tesco Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Tesco - Essay Example Analysis of the company’s operating exposure 6 6. Management of operating exposure 7 7. Summary and conclusion 8 Appendices 11 1. The company Telco is a general merchandising and multinational grocery store in United Kingdom with its headquarters situated at Cheshunt. In the retailing section Telco plc ranks third in the word after Wal-Mart and Carrefour while it is second largest company in terms of profitability after Wal-Mart (Reuters, 2011). The company was founded by Jack Cohen in 1919.The company over the years has expanded geographically. The company is listed under the London Stock Exchange constituting of FTSE 100 index. Telco plc market capitalisation rate was around ?27.8 billion as on 15th September, 2012 (London South East, 2012). The main aim of the company is to provide its consumers with the best quality products at attainable rates, which make the company a success over the long period of time. The company operating in various countries like UK, US, Asia, Mala ysia, Thailand and Republic of Ireland, etc. have to confront the different market rate fluctuations. Thus this can be sorted through the study made below (Appendix: 1). 2. The macroeconomic situation United States alike the other advanced economies of the country has come through a lot of improvements from the economic perspectives. The financial markets have been stable since a past few years which got reflected through the continuous rally of corporate bonds and equities. This was achieved through the narrowing of the spreads of the corporate bonds and fall in the interest rates of inter-bank. Most of the lead indicators of the economic activity are showing signs of recovery-though the recovery of the economy is likely to take place at a modest pace. The slow recovery of the economy is the price that US is ready to pay to come to a balanced economy. Consumers entering the downturn with relatively high debt levels and low savings are pacing out the consumption of growth. However, a remarkable recovery is mainly due to the stable consumer spending and the revival of demand at the consumer level (Deloitte, 2009, p.5). 3. Porter’s five factor framework for competition It is mainly the analysis based on which the strategy of the company is incorporated before establishing a company in a new country or city. It was developed by Michael E. Porter to understand the unattractive forces of the market which may pose trouble in the establishment of a company. 3.1 Bargaining power of Buyers Apart from Wal-mart and Marshals the country of Canada lacks prospective large retailers. This gives Tesco a wide chance in establishing its business in Canada, as the population of the Canada has an earning capacity of $22,000 to $ $42,000 on an approximation (Statistics Canada, 2012). 3.2 Bargaining power of suppliers Most of the suppliers of Tesco being loyal to its company Tesco never had to face dilemma in terms of production of the related goods. Still Tesco comprising o f many suppliers their bargaining capacity is more when compared to Tesco as a buyer. In Canada the main three super markets are Wal-mart, Zellers and Giant Tigers. However, the threat faced from the suppliers is comparatively low as there is often a tendency for the large supermarkets to dictate the price paid to the suppliers of the product. If the suppliers do not agree with the price quoted by Tesco then it lies with very less options. Thus Tesco have a huge advantage in comparison to the local shops of Canada. 3.3 Competitive Rivalry Tesco can face competition on a larger scale from companies like Wal-mart, Zeller and Giant Tiger due to their business model strategy which is mainly based on the providing schemes of discounting on the overall products of the company. Thus to fight competition with the

Occupy Wall Street Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Occupy Wall Street - Essay Example The strict actions should be taken by the government and other legal bodies to eradicate them from the parks completely. â€Å"The protesters accuse many on Wall Street of unethical and criminal practices. They blame the banking industry for causing the Great Recession, beggaring the American middle class and many senior citizens to the extent that trillions in the assets of Americans in every sector of our society have been lost† (Koch par. 2). To demonstrate an example, a private business has developed much and is much tired of the attack, rapes, public defecations and other illegal activity on their possessions, and request for trespassers to be expelled. Not anything concerning this actuality reminds the First Amendment. The people here totally behave in a messy and a disorganized way by making the places totally unhygienic and polluted. The people at Occupy WallStreet are not menacing anyone excluding the politicians who have determined to apparent them out and defy their right to free speech, passive assembly, and appeal. To state another one example of attempt rape, the rape cases where reported in the parks by the Wall Street Protestants to the ladies who were for a recreation day out. At the beginning on the protesters was frequently youthful, partially as social networks throughout which they encourage the protests are also taken up by the young hands. As the protest grows, elder protesters also grow to be concerned. The normal age group of the activist was 33, with citizens in their 20s evenhanded by citizens in their 40 age group. Diverse spiritual faith has been representing at the protest together with Muslims, Jews, and Christians. The enormous mass of the protesters, considered the logic the unfairness to the all who are concerned. Along with those protester groups are revolutionary who are beside any government, some of whom are looking to connect in violence with the cops; others are essentials

Public Policy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 2

Public Policy - Essay Example The 2012/2013 budget plan of the state that was approved by the Governor and Legislature in June 2012. In the event that the voters reject this policy measure, the budget have a backup plan that demands reduction in spending, also referred to as trigger cuts. The policy affects the upper income tax payers because they are the one to pay additional tax for the funding of the state’s budgeted programs. However, the beneficiaries of the policy range from community colleges and schools, universities, department of development services, department of parks and recreation, department of fish and game, city police departments among other funded educational programs.The Proposition 30 will increase the rate of Sales Tax from 2013 all the way to 2016 by 9.3%. This policy measure will increase statewide rate of sales tax by almost one quarter for each dollar of purchased goods. The policy will be effective for four years. The Proposition 30 will also increase the rates of Personal Incom e Tax from 2012 to 2018. The policy measure will increase the already existing 9.3 percent rates on the higher incomes. The supplementary marginal rate of tax will increase with the increase in taxable income. The policy will add state revenue from 2018 through to 2019. Through the fiscal years in which both the personal income tax and sales tax increases as stated above due to phasing in and phasing out of the higher rates of taxes, the smaller increases in revenue are likely to be seen in 2011/2012, 2017/2018, and 2018/2019.