business ethics article

Business ethics article

Articles about business ethics

By Markus Allen, Publisher of Marketing-Ideas.Org

Bill Gates... ethical business man or evil genius?
Whether you love him or hate him, you've got to admire Bill Gates of Microsoft®.

In less time than it takes to wear out your family room sofa, Mr. Gates dropped out of Harvard and now controls more than 9 out of every 10 desktop PCs on the planet. That's an awesome amount of power left in the hands of just one company...

... Especially when you consider news that the software giant plans to test an $80.00 a year subscription service called Windows OneCare to fix the very same Microsoft software responsible for the overwhelming epidemic of malicious spyware and viruses gripping your computer.

Is this audacity to the max or just savvy marketing?

See what others are saying at about Microsoft's busines ethics at my business ethics message board forum.

Here's the million-dollar marketing ethics question... should you pay a never-ending fee to fix (what critics call) poorly written software code. After all, most other software companies offer us the same extended warrantees, protections, and upgrades for a price.

Is Microsoft on the receiving end of a bum wrap because Mr. Gates is one of the wealthiest people on planet?

By the way, I'm assuming that this never-ending maintenance fee does NOT include upgrades to their operating system (although Apple computer junkies will joke that upgrades are a thing of the past since Microsoft's much anticipated operating system Longhorn is very late to arrive on the scene).

What say you? What side are you on? Should Microsoft be rewarded with an $80.00 a year (for life) payment for creating sub-par software that's vulnerable to spyware and virus writers or should they be treated no differently than their competitors who offer the same extended warrantees?

Brilliant marketing or just business ethics gone sour?

It's hardly fair to single out Microsoft... after all, businesses from car companies to large screen TV manufacturers offer extended warrantees to protect you against a malfunction.

Critics say this is different. Some find Microsoft creates so-so products and uses it's powerful marketing prowess to dominate the market... only to double dip into our wallets with fixes of corrupted software.

So how do you see it... is Bill Gates a marketing genius or simply ethically challenged?

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