Monopolistic pricing and price-fixing are similar unethical practices. In these cases, either individual companies or a group of conspiring companies use their market power to force consumers to pay a higher price than they would have if there were real competition in the marketplace. Microsoft's Win¬dows operating system, gasoline, airline travel, and credit card interest rates have all been alleged to be guilty of monopolistic pricing or price-fixing. In general, two factors must be considered when judging whether a price is fair to consumers: consumer freedom and available competition. The greater freedom a consumer has to walk away from a product, the less likely it is that .the seller can set an unfair price. Second, the greater the competition within a market, the less likely that unfair pricing can occur. If consumers have alternatives avail¬able, unfair pricing is less likely. Of course, the more one finds uniformity of prices within an industry—and credit card interest rates, prescription drugs, and air travel come immediately to mind—the less likely it is that real competi¬tion exists.