Skip to navigation
Latest News

Consumer demand 'skyrocketed' Windows - Microsoft

Posted on 14 Dec 2006 at 14:56

Computer manufacturers overwhelmingly chose Microsoft products because they were 'innovative, affordably priced and in high demand by consumers', the company's attorney argued yesterday as he continued his opening statement in the Iowa antitrust court case.

David Tulchin spent the second full day of Microsoft's opening statement showing the jury documents and depositions from customers and competitors that he said showed that it was the high quality and low prices of the company's software that drove consumer demand.

Among those quoted in Microsoft's evidence was an unnamed executive at WordPerfect who said his company was 'scared to death' by Microsoft's Office suite and a former executive who described Microsoft's prices as 'an unbelievable deal'.

As evidence of consumers' preference for Windows, he noted that when IBM took over the sole development and marketing of OS/2 - after Microsoft withdrew from the project - it continued to install the Microsoft OS on the 'overwhelming majority' of PCs that it shipped.

'The reason was the same as that of other computer manufacturers: customer demand,' Tulchin argued.

Tulchin returned to his argument from the day before - that it was Microsoft's decision to bet on the graphical user interface in the development of applications for both Windows and the Mac that 'skyrocketed the company's products ahead of the field', not unfair or anti-competitive practices.

Tulchin argued that the plaintiffs' claim that Microsoft prices were unfairly high was based only on the retail prices of Microsoft products, which make up only a small percentage of overall sales: 4.9 per cent of operating system sales and 14.7 per cent of applications sales.

The case continues.

Author: Simon Aughton

Be the first to comment this article

You need to Login or Register to comment.

(optional)

advertisement

Most Commented News Stories
Latest Blog Posts Subscribe to our RSS Feeds
Latest Reviews Subscribe to our RSS Feeds
Latest Real World Computing

advertisement

Sponsored Links
 
SEARCH
SIGN UP

Your email:

Your password:

remember me

advertisement


Hitwise Top 10 Website 2008
 
 

PCPro-Computing in the Real World Printed from www.pcpro.co.uk

Register to receive our regular email newsletter at http://www.pcpro.co.uk/registration.

The newsletter contains links to our latest PC news, product reviews, features and how-to guides, plus special offers and competitions.