Two decades after the Federal Trade Commission launched a massive inquiry into the Microsoft monopoly, the company plans to fight a similar battle against Google. The FTC is currently preparing subpoenas to serve to Google who they believe is abusing its dominance in the search market industry to unfairly promote its own services at the expense of its rivals. Google's ability to innovate has allowed it to far surpass its rival companies prompting the FTC to launch a massive antitrust investigation into the Internet company (Huffington Post). .
Experts have noted the similarities between Google and Microsoft circa 1991. Both are huge companies that are highly profitable and indispensable for consumers. Unfortunately, both companies are also accused of using their size and power to restrict their rivals from gaining significant share in the market. However, the same experts believe Google is more vulnerable to competition than Microsoft was at the time because of the nature of the Internet. Like Microsoft, Google is now realizing the downfall of its widespread success; significant market share brings the scrutiny of antitrust watchdogs (Huffington Post).
In the month of May, Google reached unknown territory; it boasted over one billion unique visitors worldwide, which is at least 100 million users ahead of its nearest competitor, Microsoft. Google currently has over 65 percent of the domestic search market and processed 11.2 billion searches just last month (Huffington Post). .
Google and Microsoft have similar business strategies in the sense that they both strive to offer everything to their customers so that they never have use another company's product. For instance, Microsoft aimed to offer software, like its Windows operating system, and the gateway to the web, such as its Internet Explorer browser. Likewise, Google expanded beyond its search browser to allow its users to send emails, place calls, look for directions, and buy a smartphone.
