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• EU25: $11,017 bn
• EU15: $10,522 bn
• Euro-Zone: $8,209 bn
• US: $11,000 bn
• Japan: $4,301 bn

Is it really?

As regards interoperability, Microsoft is required, within 120 days, to disclose complete and accurate interface documentation which would allow non-Microsoft work group servers to achieve full interoperability with Windows PCs and servers. This will enable rival vendors to develop products that can compete on a level playing field in the work group server operating system market. The disclosed information will have to be updated each time Microsoft brings to the market new versions of its relevant products.

To the extent that any of this interface information might be protected by intellectual property in the European Economic Area (6), Microsoft would be entitled to reasonable remuneration. The disclosure order concerns the interface documentation only, and not the Windows source code, as this is not necessary to achieve the development of interoperable products.

The UK is one of the 16 member states of the EU.

Also, currently the EU has a larger GNP then America.

That's odd, I can only find GDP figures on the EU's web site, not GNP. Maybe that's because GDP is now the standard for comparison.
The US does have a higher GDP than the EU, and a higher rate of growth.

The invention of the computer is a bit fuzzier, you're probably referring to Babbage's machine. But we might as well go all the way back to the Abacus. If "computer" is a device based on a microprocessor, then that would be the Intel 8086 chip, invented in the US. If a "computer" is merely a device that uses electronic memory storage and switching mechanisms, then that would be ENIAC, built right here in the US.

Let's see... WWW... CERN, check.
Telephone: if I remember my geography, Boston MA is in America, where Alexander Bell created the first actual, working telephone, the design from which all wired telephones were descended.

Broadband: I don't really see that as an "invention." Just doing something faster than before.

Not to sound too nationalistic, but Europe is much bigger than the US - it's just more disorganised, and hamstrung by the French. ;-)

Check the facts.

The US: 3,717,900 Square Miles
The EU: 1,249,000 Square Miles

:)

The EU outnumbers the population of the US by about 90 million. We have about 1/4 the population density.

This is a little off topic considering that Hungary is not an EU member nation and the poster doesn't want to buy digital goods; however...

July 1st all companies selling digital media to member countries of the EU were required to collect VAT on that product (at the "general" VAT rate for that country which can be as high as 25%) and send it into that countries government. And it has always been that any company selling to EU member nations with a larger that $96,000 in sales per year (that number could be wrong) are required to collect VAT on the products they sell.

This has caused a lot of companies to stop selling in the EU because technically VAT is not an added tax like sales tax and therefore if something costs $400 in the US and you have a 10% sales tax the consumer pays $440 and the government gets $40; however if a product sells for $400 and the VAT is 25%, the consumer pays $400 and the government gets $100. The final seller pays the VAT on the entire product value, but then gets VAT refunds from the supply chain.

For more elequently written information check out:
European Union Value Added Tax - VAT
July 1 is VAT Day

Well said. Most of the EU member states have enshrined the European Convention on Human Rights [hri.org] into law.

Value Added Tax.
Read all about it

I think that's about all the time I have to research this.

Hence, NA, despite being way larger in population, has a much less percentage of people who are tech savvy

Actually, the Population of the US and Canada is about 315 million while the EU has about 378 million. Given EU net users number 186 millon and NA net users number 182 million this gives us the following net usage rates: EU = 49%(186/378) and NA = 57%(182/315).

Since your premise that NA is larger in population is incorrect can we reverse your conclusion and state that NA actually has a higher proportion of people who are tech savvy? Knowing the Europeans I've known I don't believe the education of that continent is lacking so maybe we have to blame the EU telecoms.

Given what English friends of mine have said I blame British Telecom.:)

IMHO, as per.
J:)

The EU Embassy in Washington, maybe:

European Union
Delegation of the European Commission to the United States
2300 M Street, NW Washington, DC 20037
Telephone: (202) 862-9500 Fax: (202) 429-1766

They may elect to tax physical items (books, hardware,etc) at a later date.

Come on, is this 2002 or 1992? Seriously, the other part of the news (i.e. taxing online transactions for online goods) is totally valid, because it's not being done yet, AFAIK.

There is a concept of EU's taxation area, which includes pretty much the whole EU with a couple of exceptions (like Jersey). Since something like 1993 there has been the EU "Single Market", and most physical goods imported from elsewhere have been subject to VAT. If I order something from for example the US or Australia or Japan I have to pay VAT if the package gets caught in the customs. If I order something from the UK or France or Germany, who cares, it's from the taxation area, and taxes are assumed to have already been paid. Many European online vendors have VAT already included in their prices, and for example Amazon.co.uk charges the VAT based on the destination country.

At least some Canadian online vendors go around VAT by sending their shipments to the customer from some country in the EU. The package isn't subject to VAT if it's sent from France or Belgium. I don't know the legality of this, but the concept sounds somewhat dubious, despite allowing cheaper prices for the customer.

At least in Finland the key is to order less in one package, because our customs don't bother to charge less than 10 euros. I have something like 90 DVD titles (some of them being 5-6 disc boxes), with almost all of them being ordered from the net, and only 15 of them originate from the EU taxation area. I haven't paid VAT (22% in Finland) or customs (3.5%) for a single one of the imported ones, because I order only one or two discs at a time.

More information about VAT is available at European Union's VAT info page.

But really, "why are we interested?"?

FYI Ireland overtook the US to become the worlds biggest software exporter in 1999, and was top in 2001... so do enjoy your laugh at the expense of this poor technologically-backward country... :-)

Remember, God created whiskey to stop us ruling the world.

It's Lent, and we're off the drink...

Al.