EU Rejects Microsoft Settlement Proposal

Karl Cocknozzle writes "European Union antitrust officials have dismissed as insufficient Microsoft's offer to settle their most recent antitrust problem in Europe. Spokespeople for the European Commission and Microsoft declined to comment on a report in today's Financial Times that Microsoft had offered to include rival media player software from Apple and Real Networks on a CD-ROM packaged with personal computers to help resolve the case. Previously, the EU had demanded that Microsoft either unbundle Windows Media Player, or also bundle rival media players with Windows. It appears that Microsoft might get more than a slap on the wrist this time around."

Comments

Re:How Ironic...

[millahtime]

" I hope the EU also forces Apple to bundle Real with MacOSX as well..."

Don't do that. No one should be forced to have Real on their system. Don't punish the users.

if it was up to me...

[xao gypsie]

i would make mr gates walk from normandy to rome giving out cd's with slackware to everyone he sees telling him how sorry he is and how much France can kick his ass...

If I were M$

[Anonymous Coward]

I would rename my OS windows xp software package. And then release a crappy stripped down good for nothing OS that had no built in functions. I mean, what the people need is a good copy of windows with no internet explorer, outlook express, media player, games (get rid of solitare), defrag (hey its a program they license), ftp, telnet, etc. Just break it up into little pieces, make it basically worthless without the big package, then charge 10X more for the same content. Of couse, I'm 100% evil..but thats besides the point. *disclaimer* ITS A JOKE!

Hello EU IT Administrator

[Anonymous Coward]

Thank you for contacting Microsoft Sales!

After processing your request, we have determined that your upgrade cost will be:

$12,000,000,000.42.

Thank you,
Microsoft Sales

Re:Hello EU IT Administrator

[tepples]

Thank you for the price quote on Microsoft software.

However, we feel we could save money for our clients, the taxpayers of Europe, by migrating our systems to FreeBSD.

Thank you,
EU Ministry of IT

(Microsoft sales officer mutters to himself: Lost another one to DyingTech.)

Re:Hello EU IT Administrator

[a_n_d_e_r_s]

The phone rings in an german company.

FRENCH ACCENT VOICE ON PHONE

"Hello, is this Suse - I got a large order for you!"

Those skulls are thicker than I thought.

[jotaeleemeese]

The simple concept of why a monopoly is treated differently has left some brains in their virginal state.

Most be a calcium overdose....

Maybe it is because Linus is European?

[incuso]

:)

M.
--
http://incuso.altervista.org

When is it too much?

[lake2112]

Windows comes installed with Notepad, so now Windows comes installed with Notepad, EditPlus and UltraEdit. (even though they are better than notepad) Windows comes installed with MS Paint so can I get Photoshop installed with Windows.

hmmm

[Anonymous Coward]

if they remove win-media player there will certainly be alot less "wrist" "slapping" going on.

Re:What's the big deal with Media Player?

[mm0mm]

I'm no Microsoft fanboy, but I really don't see what the big deal is with Windows Media Player. ... Windows has shipped with a Media Player since Windows 3.1 at least, and nobody's complained about illegal bundling.

Me neither. And personally I can't wait for MS to fully implement DRM on Windows Media and not-so-open_standard media formats for digital media distribution that can not be watched without locked-in WMP proprietary codec. Media Player is and has been FREE, so in theory it's win-win situation for consumers.

Really, you can trust me on this.

Windows not the only thing Shuttle don't bundle

[blorg]

And support PC manufacturers that do not bundle MS Windows by default ( Shuttle [shuttle.com] comes to mind here, but there are many others).

Heh. Shuttle don't even bundle a CPU, RAM, or hard drive! (Note: I'm not complaining.)

Re:Gates versus Europe - Round 1?

[WhodoVoodoo]

Funny, that.

You know, thats what most people tell me as I drive around in my Honda Civic hatchback with a Giant Yellow Wing and big assed stickers proclaiming my awesomness.

They all Tell me "Dude! Just buy a space ship and quit pretending you drive one to the night shift at 7-11!" But the answer is still the same: "None of the space ships availiable drive on the ground! I had to get a CRX instead!"

Well I'm off to 7-11.

At least M$ is trying!

[El]

Hey, they've already released the source to part of NT4.0 and Windows 2000... what more could EU want?