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Microsoft Antitrust Compliance Questioned

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the letter-of-the-law dept.

rocketjam writes "Federal and State regulators overseeing Microsoft's compliance with their antitrust agreement with the government, are questioning whether Windows XP's "Shop for Music Online" feature violates the agreement's terms. Specifically, the feature invokes Microsoft Internet Explorer, even if the user has selected a different web browser as their default browser. A Microsoft representative said they believe they have adhered to the agreement."

6 of 375 comments (clear)

  1. Gasp! by StormReaver · · Score: 5, Funny

    [sarcasm]
    Microsoft not complying with a settlement order? Say it ain't so, as there is no precedent for such a thing.
    [/sarcasm]

  2. Of course they are complying... by overbyj · · Score: 5, Funny

    Govt: MS, you are not giving users a choice here.

    MS: "But your honor, we are giving users a choice. They can use IE for shop for music online or just not shop."

    Ahhhh, the MS way.

    --
    No trees were harmed in the composition of this; however, numerous electrons were inconvenienced.
    1. Re:Of course they are complying... by tds67 · · Score: 5, Funny

      Govt: MS, you are not giving users a choice here.

      MS: "But your honor, we are giving users a choice. They can use IE for shop for music online or just not shop."

      This issue has been addressed by Microsoft, all you need to do is read about it.

      To access the MS Word document that explains how M$ is complying with the law, simply access the "My Government" folder that was created automatically when you installed Windows XP.

  3. I would've expected the opposite by ItWasThem · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Think about it, if MS wanted to stick it to the other browsers they really SHOULD use them everywhere like with Media Player and Messenger launches, etc.

    With all of the proprietary crud that IE uses to make those things work the third party browsers would crash and burn (assuming MS only changed which browser gets launched and not anything else about the technology to actually support them).

    Then MS could say "See judge, we told you other browsers were crap. Let us switch back to IE for the poor helpless users and all of their troubles will be over..."

  4. Is this another violation? by erroneus · · Score: 5, Interesting

    My default browser under MacOS9 is Mozilla 1.3.1. MSIE does not exist on my Mac. I have, however, installed Outlook Express and MSN Messenger.

    Whenever I click on a link within either of these two programs, an attempt is made to launch MSIE and not the default browser. Of course, nothing happens because both of these programs unsurprisingly launch only MSIE for this function.

    Since this is MacOS, are they allowed to do this kind of thing? I assume "maybe" but if not, where do I submit my complaint?

  5. They took the blue pill... by ashitaka · · Score: 5, Funny

    They believe..whatever they want to believe.

    Sorry, I saw Reloaded again last night...

    Sosumi.

    --
    If you don't want to repeat the past, stop living in it.