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“The Case of Bill Gates”: Is too much success morally unethical? By Chuck Haling MGMT 368 B Professor Swartz July 4, 2003 If there is a fine line between being a successful American business entrepreneur and a monopolistic villain, Bill Gates could probably tell us where that line is. If you were to talk to Bill Gates he would most likely tell you that he has experienced the “American dream”, and then some, so why do so many people hate him because of it? Bill Gates is not a stupid man, although he did drop out of college, his love for computers and his natural business sense has helped him to create one of the largest and most recognizable companies in the world. There are several ethically debatable issues surrounding the rise of Microsoft and how Bill Gates has gotten to where he is. One issue that has received the most press over the past few years has been whether or not Microsoft violated anti-trust laws by creating boundaries to prevent other companies from entering the market. When you look at the computer you can break the components down into a few categories, hardware, software or peripherals. You can further dissect software into two additional categories, the operating system and the other being application software such as word processing software, spreadsheet software and web browser software to name a few. Those who have attacked Microsoft claim that the company, through its bundling approach to selling software and that fact that they give away their web browser program with the purchase of the operating system, limits the opportunity for competitors to enter the market with a sellable product that can compete. Although I have some mixed opinions about this issue and can appreciate both sides of the argument, I keep coming back to a basic fact that if it weren’t for people like Bill Gates and companies like Microsoft, technology like this may not even exist.
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