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Technology Stocks : How high will Microsoft fly?
MSFT 491.12+1.7%3:59 PM EST
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To: Insitu who wrote (44320)5/5/2000 3:49:00 PM
From: rudedog  Read Replies (3) of 74651
 
Insitu - re: 90% market share has always been a monopoly
Well, by that definition, MSFT has had a monopoly on PC OS since they shipped the first copy, since they have always had around 90% of the market - even when that "market" was just a handful of units. But, you see, no one defined "IBM compatible PCs" as a "market" at that time. So when did "IBM compatible PCs" become a market which one could monopolize? When they exceeded Apple's market share? When IBM PCs represented a significant fraction of corporate desktops? How significant? Do they have to have 90% of all desktops? It is kind of silly to say this is the market for Intel based desktops running MSFT OS products - that kind of definition makes anyone a monopoly.

So there seems to be no "cut and dried" definition here. Apple has 100% of the MAC desktop market, yet few would call them a monopoly. Perhaps you could give a little more definition to your position.

This is not a silly question - many people think that at some point, MSFT developed a monopoly OS position, or something close to it. But Gerald's questions are right on - how should a company behave to protect itself from a future definition of its market? Is CSCO already a monopoly? will it be found to have been one at some point in the future?
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