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Microsoft Defies EU Commission
otahkgeek writes "Wired News is reporting that Microsoft claims that by removing Windows Media Player from Windows, it would be forced to ship a substandard version to European consumers. This is on the heels of a three-day hearing by a European commission to determine the validity of charges that Microsoft illegally abused its power over the home computer market."
At some point someone is going to have to stand up to them. Being able to dodge bullets wouldn't hurt, but hopefully, whoever finally does won't have to.
I know a lot of /.'s American readers might not care so much, but as a belgian, I'm glad this has finally started. I read a story about this a few days ago, and it was still undecided how MS would proceed. I wonder how the EU will see this in light of the recent warning from america's government about the Shop for Music mess. Feature my arse.
Anyway, we europeans have got to do our part to fight software patents and monopolies, and I'm glad to see the EU might be up to the task.
So what exactly isn't an OS supposed to do? This argument could be made for ANYTHING MS wanted to put into Windows.
Internet browsing, function.
Media player, function.
Word & speadsheet processing, function.
Image editing, function.
Developer IDE, function.
Cost of OS, $400.
Windows just like DOS is a Operating System OS. That's all it should do. Provide a platform to run ANY program you wish to run on it.
Required programs should consist of basic grapics and network drivers that are compatible with almost everything. Some generic browser that's not intergrated into the entire system to allow one to select their own browser.
Then it can also provide links to obtain optimized drivers from each vendor that your PC runs from. Or download them itself and install as necessary.
Either way. Internet Explorer and WMP through licensing and other agreements have become vital and critical portions of other systems. There are whole groups of banks who will not allow you to conduct transactions from any other browser other than IE and there are tons of media houses that will not let you access it without IE AND WMP.
Of course some would argue that some sites are RA and Quicktime only. So I'd say force them to allow others to view their encoded content also and let them focus on the encoding part not the consumer part.
These are the same tactics being employed by many companies such as a printer shop that has elevated USB cables becuase the printer company does not include a USB cable most times. Or Local Number Portability. Think you're using that GSM phone on a CDMA network?
When was the last time you used a standard set of tools on your car or truck without having to have some special star socket to finish the job.
You can all whine and point the finger at MS but these issues surround your daily life. How bad does it have to get before you stand up and tell your politicans were tired of it. I sure hope it's not to the point where you cant use X toilet paper with Y toilet without it refusing to flush.
RTFA.
This isn't about Microsoft's monopoly. It's about how MS uses its large market share in the OS market to push its own software in other markets (ie - the media player market).
Frankly, I don't care what media player is included with the OS, so long as one is included at all. If the EU forces Microsoft to un-bundle WMP, I hope it'll force it to include some other media player. Releasing an OS today without media playback capabilities is ridiculous.
I know it's easy enough to go download your latest copy of winamp or whatever, but frankly - there are a lot of people out there, that wouldn't know the first place to look, and will be left wondering why nothing happens when they double click on their *.mp3 file.
MS is basically daring the EU to try to punish it, because they can't without hurting themselves. If MS were to pull out of Europe, the damage would be huge.
Sure, all of Europe could convert to Linux... but they'd be forced to. As a result, a lot of hardware would have to be replaced and a lot of software would have to be replaced. Banning Windows would be quite the expensive proposition, and MS could damage the whole EU economy by threatening to walk... Bully Bill will get his way.
Uh, EU thinks Windows has abused the market by including WMV? According to most of the posts here, WMV is never used because there are such superior 3rd party apps available. What am I missing? Sounds more like a money grab from a successful US company (Who hasn't gained anything from steel tariffs). If you don't like MS buy a MAC or use Linux.
(From an Anomymous Coward in the USA who is tired of every site wanting one to create an account. I get enough SPAM without submitting to the Wired crowd.)
With a near 100% profit margin on Windows, enough money in their coffers to end world hunger if they ever felt like it, and the various versions of Windows having several hundred dollar price tags, I don't think Microsoft has much to fear from a $20 per copy fee.
And firmer means are kind of scary to implement. Even the EU is so Windows-dependent that a ban on imports until Media Player is removed could cause some serious problems if Microsoft decides to wait it out instead of complying right away.
The whole point behind getting them to ship the OS without a "built-in" media player, or whatever else, is that the whole thing would be substandard.
Honestly, how many people would go down to the store and buy windows media player if MS had to retail it just like other player's have to (or at least theoretically have to).
If it's so critical for them to ship the media player attached at the hip to the OS then the EU should make them a deal.
The EU should say, "Ok you can ship the OS with the media player embedded, but for that privlege we require you to ship MS Office embedded in the OS and MS Flight Simulator embedded in the OS. I.E. they would loose a lot of profits, hit them where it hurts.
Hey, anything else would be substandard, right?
Caution: Contents under pressure
You make a joke out of it, but the truth is that Microsoft could buy and sell about 3/4 of the countries in the European Union.
Expect pain.
In this day and age multimedia is pretty standard. If help files and introductions require movies, how can Microsoft play them if they aren't part of the OS?
Likewise if they go after Microsoft on this one they'd have to be fair and do the same with Apple.
Now if they required Microsoft to pre-install Quicktime, RealOne, and iTunes along with Windows Media Player I could see it. But asking them to remove it seems difficult to justify.
You just proved apple and RM's point. The monopoly is not on the playing of a format, its on the playing of video files in genral. Microsoft has video software. Microsoft uses huge power to make sure that all content is released in its format. Microsoft pushes its media player and its format onto consumers because they want video and microsoft's format has a monopoly on the video market. So microsoft doesnt include RM and MOV support to further levrage its monopoly. Its simple, really.
When life gives you crap, Make Crapade.
Sluggy Freelance.
I don't think MS management would be so stupid as to take this course. It would massively damage MS's reputation, and could trigger a world-wide stampede of government and busuness away from reliance on MS products.
Those "features" should, however, be optional.
Completely removing Windows Media Player and Internet Explorer is going a little too far. They should just implement some of the earlier suggestions in the U.S. trials by making each of those "features" an optional install at the BEGINNING of the install process. Have a Customize button just like in Mac OS that lets you choose which features you want to have installed on the OS.
I think the difference between an Application and an OS feature for Microsoft is whether or not those "features" are available for other operating systems. For example, Windows Media Player should not be a feature because it's a full fledged application for Mac OS. Likewise with Microsoft Office and Internet Explorer (though Microsoft could get away with Explorer still since they no longer offer it for Mac OS.)
I find it irksome that when it comes to security Microsoft likes to point out the distinctions between "features" and OS when considering a security hole. If there's a security problem with Internet Explorer, they don't call it Windows, they make sure everyone knows it's just Internet Explorer and not the "OS". Likewise if there's a problem with Windows, it has nothing to do with Internet Explorer, Windows Media Player, etc.
So if Microsoft likes to refer to these "features" as separate entities in relation to security, then they should be treated as such and made removable during installation.
Nonsense, I use WMP for my music all the time. The trick is to disable the DRM feature. On my Win XP computer, open up Media Player, go to Tools, Options. On the Options window, go to the Copy Music tab, and make sure the "Protect content" box is unchecked.
Windows Media Player is stable, and it organizes my music nicely (Granted, I don't have a huge collection of music, so YMMV). I've had IE crash on me more times than WMP has (IE has crashed more in these last few days than since I got it; it's probably because the laptop isn't Suspending properly. Anyway, WMP has crashed maybe once or twice. Not too shabby), and WMP is constantly running in the background. Dell shipped MusicMatch Jukebox preloaded onto my laptop, but I haven't used it, nor do I intend to. Dell's branded version of Musicmatch is, in my opinion, buggy and bloated.
Not to mention, I downloaded MusicMatch onto my 5 yr old Compaq Armada, running Win 98, and it's as slow as molasses when loading and running MusicMatch. Interestingly enough, when I uninstalled MusicMatch and installed the latest version of WMP (keep in mind this is a 5yr old Win 98 Compaq Armada) it worked fine. So I left WMP on it.
Say what you like about MS software, but WMP is off limits. It's a good program. Besides, what is Joe Sixpack going to do without WMP? Search around for other solutions? No way. Joe probably doesn't know there are alternate programs for music playback.
Way easier than that:
A) MS abused their copyrights
B) MS isn't willing to change
C) MS's refusal to play fair has a direct impact on the EU economies, so:
D) Just have the EU declare all infringing MS products public domain. See how long it takes before EuroWindows is available at the low-low cost of $0 to anyone who wants it. There's an onion in the ointment that MS'll want to avoid.
And don't tell me that that reaction would be unjustified or out of proportion: When corporations start declaring open war on governments, all's fair.
"You know, Hobbes, some days even my lucky rocketship underpants don't help" -- Calvin
I wouldn't be so sure without knowing what it means in concrete terms to pull out or walk away from Europe. Is it immediately closing down support offices and services? Good luck breaking all those corporate contracts. Unilaterally de-activate their software tomorrow? No too likely, MS's legal coffers are big but not that big. Refuse to ship to Europe? They have distribution agreements to uphold and I doubt starting a trade war would be to their benefit either. Europeans could simply stop enforcing anti-piracy laws where Microsoft was concerned while an alternative took shape.
Microsoft isn't omnipotent. There are limits in law and their business model to what they can do and how quickly. The only reasonable scenario I see is to stop developing new product with European needs in mind and allow existing contracts to laspe when they end, in other words a slow retreat. Nothing could be better for for alternate operating systems, and I'd expect to see a major alignment between the European economy and third world software powers too poor to buy Windows anyway. Software companies and investors worldwide would go nuts trying to fill the void left by a monopoly. A European dot.com 2.
MS pulling out of Europe would probably isolate the North American market, not the Europeans.
According to the story, the commission will reach a decision "by June of 2004", after which it may go to court. By then the pc-media-player wars will be over and MS will have destroyed another category of software.
To sleep, perchance to dream
If your os comes without a browser how are you suppossed to download it?
Viral software licensing is not freedom, it is in fact GNU/Socialism.
I'm not sure about anti-American, but Knoppix is not hard to find in the US, yet. You don't need to break any laws to download and run it either, yet.
Oh yeah, "Digital Rights Management" is un-American. It gimps my press and that violates the First Amendment to the Constitution, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." When someone else has control of what files can and can't be coppied or created on my primary writng instrument, I have no free press, speech or ability to petition my government. If I'm unable to share files from my primary writing instrument, I'm effectively forbiden to publish. Nothing short of universal censorship will make DRM work and nothing could be less American than that.
Microsoft is not just an embarasement to the technical community, they are an embarasement to all of us.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
"Starting Tuesday, we will no longer recognize Microsoft copyrights in Europe."
IE requires Windows. Sure, you're downloading it for "free" but you already paid for part of its development when you bought your copy.
You mean either:
Is it just me or does anyone else think this is an oxymoron?
Or:
Am I the only one who thinks this is an oxymoron?
Sorry about that, I just think it's ironic when people make language mistakes when commenting on someone else's language...
Just because the US government will bend over for anyone with a few dollars does not mean that all governments will. Outside of the US there is a growing tide of opinion against Microsoft. Although I have doubts about the current will of the EU to take tell Microsoft to stop I think the next case will see a shock result...
I love stacking my barbecues in the shed at the end of summer - you can't beat a bit of grill on grill action.