Microsoft And Monopoly Essays - Competition Law,

Microsoft And Monopoly America's century-old antitrust law is increasingly irrelevant to our modern global information technology market. This law is obsolete, in accordance to the current Microsoft situation, because in the past there wasn't technology as there is now. Recently the government has been accusing Microsoft as being a monopoly. "Techno-Optimists" claim that "efforts by government to promote competition by restraining high-tech firms that acquire market power will only stifle competition." Some analysts disagree. They concede that dynamic technology makes it tough to sustain market power. Still, consumers will want compatible equipment, which will lead them to buy whatever product other consumers are using, even if the product is inferior. Hence, is Microsoft a monopoly or not? The range of views extends from the optimists who think that changing technology removes the need for antitrust, to "middle-of-the-roaders" who think that antitrust has always been and still is an important weapon in the government's arsenal. Microsoft is not a monopoly. Our world of telecommunications and information technology has brought about many changes in many fields but new technology has neither extinguished nor revitalized the reason for antitrust. There are monopolies that the government ought to control. Those are the very monopolies that the government created itself. It is government that creates monopoly power by erecting and maintaining barriers to market entry. In the most recent dispute between Microsoft and the Department of Justice (DOJ), Microsoft is accused of "tying-in" an Internet browser into Windows. Microsoft's "tie-in" of its browser (Internet Explorer) with its operating system (Windows 95) is a tie-in that shows no greater threat to competition than the packaging of tires with cars, cream with coffee, laces with shoes, even left gloves with right gloves. In actuality, tying arrangements is pro-competitive. Consumers will buy the product that is more appealing to their needs. Seven years ago the Federal Trade Commission began its investigation of Microsoft's market power in the sale of operating systems for personal computers. That investigation was later joined by the DOJ and pursued vigorously by Anne Bingaman, then head of the Antitrust Division. The DOJ uncovered one practice it deemed worthy of challenge. Microsoft licensed its Windows software for multi-year periods on a "per processor" basis. Which means that, Microsoft, to help prevent software piracy, insisted that computer makers pay a royalty to Microsoft for each computer they shipped, whether or not Windows was installed as the operating system. DOJ was not persuaded by Microsoft's argument that physical machines can more easily be counted than intangible copies of computer software. Nor was DOJ convinced that customers might actually favor long-term contracts to guard against unpredictable price increases and other uncertainties. This arose the question; did Microsoft exploit its dominant market position by "insisting" on "unfair" licensing arrangements? Of course not. Consider that Windows became the industry standard because PC-makers thought it was a "superior" product. An assessment that surely took into account the entire set of product features. Not only technical features but also ease of use, quality, price, service, and contract terms. Just like any other product in the competitive market. Consider that there were no barriers that would prevent another competitor from driving Windows out as being the market leader. These are simple conditions that exist in an economic market. Those considerations, apparently, did not impress the DOJ's Antitrust Division. After a five-year investigation costing millions of dollars, the Antitrust Division found little that could be characterized as anti-competitive. But that did not stop the government. Not only did DOJ file an antitrust suit that caused Microsoft to cancel its planned release of Intuit (a manufacturer of a popular personal finance program) it also threatened to halt the release of Windows 95 (Microsoft's upgraded operating system). The head of the Antitrust Division, Bingaman, was reportedly concerned about the link between Windows 95 and the Microsoft Network (MSN), an Internet service provider intended to compete against America Online (AOL). Whenever a user started a Windows 95 system, an MSN icon appeared. Then one click of the mouse connected the user with the MSN service. That packaging, according to DOJ, gave MSN an unsporting edge over its online rivals. But a few more mouse clicks enabled any Windows 95 user to bring up an AOL icon, which would appear automatically thereafter, at the same time as the MSN icon. Satisfied with its discovery that MSN's edge could be neutralized, the Antitrust Division abandoned its threat to block Windows 95. In result, MSN now loses an estimated $200 million annually providing service to fewer than 3 million customers. On the other hand, AOL, has 9

Psychological Warfare in the United States Military essays

Psychological Warfare in the United States Military essays Psychological Warfare in the United States military The use of psychology in war is as old as war itself. In ancient Greece, Thermistocles sent his men ashore to carve messages urging the Ionians not to fight against the Athenians (Pease 3). Known as psychological warfare, it is the attempt by one nation to gain an advantage over another by exploiting fear, mistrust, suspicion, rumor, prejudice, and uncertainty to influence international opinion and/or the frame of mind of the opposing soldiers. Psychological warfare is designed to affect the enemys mind, influencing him to take an action, even against his conscious will, favorable to his opponent (Pease xiii). The United States government employs psychological warfare, known as Psychological Operations (PSYOP), to secure national objectives in times of conflict as well as peace. They are a vital part of the broad range of U.S. political, military, economic, and ideological activities. The ultimate objective of United States military psychological operations is to convince ene my, neutral, and friendly nations and forces to take actions favorable to the United States and its interests. This is accomplished, with varied effectiveness, through several methods and techniques, both on the strategic and tactical levels (Payne). Psychological warfare is also utilized by the United States on civilians and the general population of liberated territories. This branch of psychological operations is known as consolidation (Pease 9). Strategic, Tactical, and Consolidation Psychological Operations On the strategic level, psychological operations are utilized to accomplish long-term objectives. Employed on a global scale, strategic psychological operations are directed at a much wider audience, or a few key communicators (Hunter). Strategic operations may also be used on a somewhat smaller scale, known as the operational scale. Here, psychological operations are ...

It's organizational leadership , How to convince and get people's Essay

It's organizational leadership , How to convince and get people's trusts so that they will follow me and my instruction - Essay Example Debatably, proficiency with a prominent vision is one of the most crucial aspects in getting people’s attention. People will give credit to an individual if impressed by the person’s capability to overcome unexpected circumstances. Heathfield (2013) asserts that in order to follow a leader, individuals must be confident with the course which the leader pursues. This ability will assist in consolidating people together into a group with similar objectives, which will result to company success. Needless to say, the subordinates will follow the leader’s instructions entirely. For instance, Steve Job’s leadership qualities allow cultivation of innovation capabilities among his employers, which ensures production of new company products such as computers and cell phones, company progress and customer satisfaction. Additionally, personality is extremely imperative to a leader. This is all about human’s common sense that determines which is right and wrong. Therefore, people can judge whether a person is outstanding or not. In this regard, individuals with a good personality can gather numerous people as their followers. Arguably, the society will love their personalities, follow them and obey their instructions. In essence, â€Å"the leader needs to have an attractive character combined with a pleasing behavior that leaves a lasting impression† (Cheng, 2010). For instance, Mother Teresa is one of the prominent examples of a great leader who expressed outstanding personality of helping impoverished children, people, and society. Until today, everyone still remembers her as a one of the great people in history. She is a leader who made people follow her attitude by doing great things. It’s difficult to attract people to follow what one does. However, if an individual has a prominent vision and expertise, it marks the first step to having followers.

This for East Asian paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

This for East Asian paper - Essay Example The country has a population of more than 1.35 million with 22 provinces, two special administrative states, Macau and Hong Kong and four directly controlled states which are Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing and Tianjin. The country is the second biggest nation in the world as computed by the land area covered with an area of 9.6 million square kilometers. The selected topic is considered to be relevant and suitable for study because of the tremendous growth that China has experienced over the years, the complexities inherent to the country and the impressive strategies used by the country to deal through the various economic fractures and downturns faced by it over the years of its existence. The word Chinese refers to anything that is related to the country China and its people, culture, ethnicity or language. Chinese from the perspective of an individual refers to any person who is an inhabitant or resident of China or an individual who belongs to the Chinese ancestry. Chineseness refers to the state of having the unique characteristics pertaining to China including its culture, ethnicity, language, political and social aspects etc. (Leutner 404). The culture of China is one of the oldest cultures in the history of the world. The significant components of the Chinese culture are music, architecture, martial arts, religion, ceramics, visual arts and cuisine. The culture of China is dominant over wide geographical regions in the eastern parts of China. The traditions and customs of China vary greatly in towns, cities and provinces. The traditional culture of China is spread over wide geographical territories in which each region is divided into separately identifiable sub cultures. Each of these regions is represented by at least three ancestral components related to the ancient Chinese customs and traditions. For example, ancient cities like Guangdong

Holocaust Denial Essay Example for Free

Holocaust Denial Essay David Irving has claimed that the Holocaust was a hoax and that there were no gas chambers in Auschwitz; discuss the evidence for and against this claim. One is astonished in the study of history at the recurrence of the idea that evil must be forgotten, distorted, skimmed over. The difficulty, of course, with this philosophy is that history loses its value as an incentive and example; it paints perfect men and noble nations, but it does not tell the truth. -W.E.B Du Bois, Black Reconstruction, 1935. There could not be a more appropriate account to go with the debate between Holocaust deniers, and those who see it as a genuine event in history. From our mid teens we are taught about the events that occurred under Hitlers reign, the most horrific of those being the mass genocide of an estimated eleven million people, many of which Jews, during the Holocaust. It is also taught that the most famous extermination camp existed at Auschwitz, where up to 10000 people were exterminated per day. These are exactly the kind of facts that were presented to me during school, and to many others; some individuals, however, claim that this horrific event never took place. Those who claim the Holocaust did not appear as traditional history describes, believe that the current mainstream understanding of the Holocaust is the result of a deliberate Jewish conspiracy created to advance the interest of Jews at the expense of other nations. (1) A statement remarkably closely related to the anti-Semitic views of the Nazis. In the case of Holocaust deniers, it is more of a case of a lack of evidence which they use to promote their views; no conclusive evidence has been presented, with numerous Holocaust deniers admitting to have lied about so called facts. (2) The main claims which Holocaust deniers make are that the Nazis had no formal policy or plan of exterminating Jews. That Nazis did not use gas chambers to mass-murder Jews, and that the figure of between 5 and 6 million Jewish deaths is a significant exaggeration and the actual number is much lower, a few hundred thousand at most. Other claims include the notion that the documentary evidence in support of the Holocaust, photographs and the Diary of Anne Frank for example, is fabricated, that survivor testimonies are unreliable, and that the Nazi prisoners confessions were obtained through the use of torture a process which can lead to inaccurate information. (3) One example of survivor testimonies being unpredictable is an excerpt of a conversation David Irving supposedly had with a survivor: IRVING: You said you saw smoke coming from the crematoria? SURVIVOR: Absolutely IRVING: Is that correct? SURVIVOR: Correct IRVING: But crematoria do not smoke, Mrs Altman. Go and visit your local crematorium in Sydney (Evans (2002) page 142) Irving took challenging the Holocaust to the extreme, and proclaimed himself as a Hitler supporter, which may have something to do with him living, working and studying in Germany for many years. In Irvings book, Hitlers War, he states that Hitler did not order the extermination of Europes Jews: the mass killings must have been carried out by Himmler and his cohorts behind Hitlers back (4) The Institute of Historical Research (IHR) states that The Institute does not deny the Holocaust. And that there is no dispute over the fact that large numbers of Jews were deported to concentration camps and ghettos, or that many Jews died or were killed during World War II. But that the Holocaust the alleged extermination of some six million Jews (most of them by gassing) is a hoax and should be recognized as such by Christians and all informed, honest and truthful men everywhere. More than being just a pro-Nazi viewpoint, Holocaust deniers believe that the death-toll amount which is widely accepted is a falsehood in an attempt to get more compensation, and sympathy. It is believed that the interest of the Zionist movement is to augment the amount of Holocaust deaths so that their gains will be greater. (5) The Holocaust deniers maintain that the Holocaust is a myth in order to establish the possibilities which can occur when an individual or group of people try to play God. This claim may have resulted from various factors, and in many cases of a denial, a particular political agenda backs it up, along with their own personal beliefs colouring their view. To fully understand the claims of these people, both sides of the debate must be looked at. The case which acknowledges the Holocaust as it is presented has much more convincing evidence, the most notable of which being photographs, video footage and personal accounts. Where the Holocaust deniers get their supposed evidence from however, is the jigsaw in which the evidence which shows the Holocaust as the event were taught it to be is made up of. Those denying the event say that the pieces of primary sources which prove the existence of the Holocaust, are in fact fabricated in an attempt to make people think that certain events happened when thy in fact, did not. (1) There are many accounts from survivors of the Holocaust, a selection of which exists in Lyn Smiths Forgotten Voices of the Holocaust, within which mentions the implementation of the final solution. In the same note it is said that upon arrival, most were sent immediately to the gas chamber and crematorium. (6). For females in concentration camps it was an even more shocking ordeal regularly being raped, and on giving birth having their babies taken from them to be murdered. Dennis Avey, a British prisoner of war at Auschwitz gives his account: Now dreadful things were happening in Auschwitz-Birkenau during 1944. They were gassing and burning thousands of people who could not work any more because of their failing strength; I knew practically everything that was going on thereThey just put them into the gas chambers using this Zyklon B gas and then they were burned. And this happened day in and day out. (6) There are many other accounts which describe similar stories, such a vast amount of matching testimonies can not possibly be a fabrication, but that is not the only evidence which supports the events of the Holocaust and Auschwitz. There are many photographs of the gas chambers, and of mass graves. Not only is there masses of evidence recorded to verify the authenticity of the Holocaust; but it is backed up by sworn testimony from both victims and the culprits. In addition to this there is evidence which Allied soldiers discovered when they liberated the camps. There is also a host of documentary evidence; the Nazis were extremely particular about keeping records, some of which were presented as evidence to the Nuremberg Tribunal and a set of evidence from several post-war trials. As well as archaeological evidence as further proof, there are bookings by the SS for the special trains to Auschwitz and other extermination camps. Of course, the issue which arises with both of these claims, and history as a whole, is that unless someone is actually present at an event and experiencing something, they have no way of knowing exactly what went on during a given time and date. It is for these reasons which we need to rely on sources other than ourselves to understand the past, and a primary source is the most reliable place to look first. Talking with a Holocaust survivor, reading the diaries like that of a certain Anne Frank hiding from the Gestapo, and looking at pictures and videos from Nazi Germany at that time allows for the closest link possible from today to the days gone by, and rejecting these ideas as a fabrication severs the best link to the truth. Holocaust deniers will be inclined to believe what they want to be true, even if it does not match up historically. The Holocaust was a dismal time not only for the Jewish race, but also a cataclysmic event in the history of mankind. The idea that not all people are equal and those of less value need to be exterminated is a notion that should never have occurred. The evidence that we have today appears to confirm that the Jewish Genocide by the Nazi people was a real event. In addition, it is extremely difficult to reasonably doubt this event and believe that people would lie about such an ordeal. References 1. Gizon, A. (2009). Holocaust. www.projectaladin.org. [Last accessed 23 June 2010] 2. Nikzor, P. (2008). David Irving. www.nizkor.org. [Last accessed 23 June 2010] 3. Lipstadt, D. (2009). Denying the Holocaust. www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars. [Last accessed 23 June 2010] 4. Irving, D. (1991). Hitlers War. London: Focal Point Publications. 5. Austin, B. (2004). Holocaust Denial. www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org. [Last accessed 23 June 2010] 6. Smith, L. (2005). Forgotten Voices of the Holocaust. London: Ebury Press. P.156/210

Sleepwalking :: Biology Essays Research Papers

Sleepwalking Many people have heard of sleepwalking and even know about symptoms that surround the disorder, but is there more to the story than just waking up during the night and wandering around in an unaware state? What actually causes someone to sleepwalk? To try to understand the answers to these questions it is important to understand not only what kind of disorder it is, but who has the disorder, how frequently it occurs, what the symptoms are, as well as what the treatments are. By exploring these areas, it may be possible to better understand the disorder as well as dispel old notions about it. The Parasomnias are disorders that intrude into the sleep process and create disruptive sleep-related events. Arousal disorders are parasomnia disorders presumed to be due to an abnormal arousal mechanism. These arousals occur when a person is in a mixed state of being both asleep and awake, generally coming from the deepest stage of nondreaming sleep, stages 3 and 4. This means a person is awake enough to act out complex behaviors but still asleep and not aware or able to remember these actions (1). One of the most common types of arousal disorders is somnambulism, more commonly known as sleepwalking. Somnambulism affects children much more regularly than adults. In fact, sleepwalking affects approximately 1% to 17% of children and is more frequently seen in boys. Interestingly, 15% of children aged 5-12 years sleepwalk at least once, but only 3-6% sleepwalk more than once (5). It has been noted that the incidence of sleepwalking decreases with age. Although the exact prevalence of sleepwalking in adults is not known, it is estimated to be as high as 10%.(4). It has also been noted that those individuals who start to sleepwalk as adults are more prone to serious problems with it. Because it is found more commonly in children, who are undergoing many physical and chemical changes, if it is seen to start in adults it is thought to be linked to mental disturbances other than fatigue or anxiety. However, mental disturbances can be present without counting as a symptom(3). No one seems to know exactly what the cause of somnambulism is, but there are theories that have been suggested. Once asleep, it is thought that the part of the brain that controls muscle function is aroused and the "sleepwalker" begins to move even though he or she is still asleep (2).

Political Globalization Essay

Traditionally, globalization is equated with modern economic development. Modern economic development is the institutionalization of capitalist structures which aimed to create the so-called â€Å"uniform world market. † However, in recent decades however, social theorists were able to point two fundamental political transformations. The first transformation involved the development of nation-states – one of the requisites of globalization (modern political institutions are necessary to achieve economic development – in the rubric of modern economic theory). The second transformation involved the end of ideological battle between Communism and Western democracy. In the second transformation, political globalization was manifested. After the Second World War, the world was divided into two camps: the Eastern Communist bloc and the West (known as the Cold War). Many developing countries – those in the Third World – became pawns of the United States and the Soviet Union. In 1990, the Soviet Union disintegrated, ending the Cold War. Thus, Western democracy became the â€Å"norm† of political development in many countries. Many countries adopted Western type political institutions, in the hope of making democracy more participative (Held and McGrew, 2007). Corollary to this was the development of the so-called â€Å"intergovernmental institutions. † These institutions linked political power and geography. For example, the International Criminal Court was established to address specified crimes like genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. The court was involved in highly controversial cases like the war in Serbia. By exercising its interstate authority, the court was able to affirm its democratic obligation. Not only was the internal political structure of the state determined, its external boundary was also conditioned. Here we can juxtapose that political globalization occurred, Western type and under the guidance of the United States. The United States though acted discouraged some countries to agree in the proposed amendment to the charter of the International Criminal Court. The United States feared a sudden change of political fortunes of aspiring nations like China and the Russian Federation. The uniformization of legal norms would severely hamper the United States in â€Å"forcing† countries economic and political manifestations or favors. Reference Held, David and Anthony McGrew. 2007. Globalization. Retrieved on January 7, 2007 from http://www. polity. co. uk/global/globalization-oxford. asp.