Every other company employs the same tactics as Microsoft. (i.e. Everyone else is doing it.)

I can hear my mother saying it now. If everyone else jumped off a cliff, does that mean you have to as well? If every child went into the store and stole a pack of gum, it's still stealing. So, even if every other company pursued similar tactics as Microsoft, this is not justification for them. If this were true, all should be held accountable, and it is simply Microsoft that is currently under the microscope. One at a time. If we catch a shoplifter, we don't let him go, because we know there are thousands of others like him. This is not to mention that the argument itself is an impossibility. To exercise the same type of business practices that Microsoft finds commonplace, a company would have to enjoy the same type of market power and leverage that Microsoft currently holds. This just isn't the case.