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Microsoft To Be Fined E500M By European Union?
An anonymous reader writes "According to a Reuters story, the European Commission is in the process of fining Microsoft 497 million Euros ($613 million). The most important reason for the fine was the refusal by Microsoft to share more information about its products with competitors. Mario Monti, the EU competition commissioner, decided to impose the fine after talks with Microsoft broke down last week." The last estimate was a mere 100 million Euros, and it's noted: "If the full European Commission backs the fine as expected on Wednesday it would exceed the 462 million euro penalty imposed on Hoffman-La Roche AG in 2001 for being ringleader of a vitamin cartel."
In this case, it wasn't the US court system that was flawed, it was the Bush Administration. Miserable failure indeed.
"...today consumers have been conditioned to think of beer when they see a bullfrog..."
Where are *you* from? You advocate a government (or governments) dictating to a publicly held company how they should write their software? Should MS goosestep as well?
Good rant! Unfortunately you're about to be modded down by the mod's (wish I had points!). I totally sympathise with you though. I'm incredibly sick of these Euro-elite bashing the U.S.
"Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge"
- Charles Darwin
Microsoft is not being fined for violating anybody's individual rights. The company never put a gun to anybody's head and forced them to buy Microsoft products. Microsoft is being fined for being a good business: too good I guess. It's a sad day when achievement is punished and failure is rewarded. That is exactly what this fine and all of antitrust law amounts to.
Umm, fuck you. Let me state that clearly so you don't misunderstand me: Fuck you. Uneducated brainwashed tools? Fuck you. Abandoned the ideals of our founders? Fuck you. Why don't you state some examples instead of spewing your hate filled rhetoric.
They fight shitty and are the world leaders in friendly fire. Everyone knows that. What the FUCK makes you think Americans can fight?
The British fight shitty and are the World leaders in friendly fire? Says who? They managed to keep quite the empire for awhile there. Ditto for the Spanish. And what makes me think Americans can fight? Perhaps you should research our military history and talk to the people we've fought against and ask them how well Americans can fight. We aren't a warlike people but we do know how to fight.
I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
I, for one, am tired of the EU meddling with US companies. Previous examples include:
Boeing/McDonnell Douglas -- EU forced changes to contracts with Delta, and American Airlines
Honeywell/GE -- merger blocked
Perhaps a little tit-for-tat is in order to show the EU bureaucrats the errors of their ways. First, the US could simply declare the merger of Air France and KLM illegal. Second, the US FTC could declare that the government subsidies of Airbus are illegal, and impose either contervailing duties on Airbus aircraft, or simply refuse to allow new Airbus aircraft to land in the US. We could watch the EU squeal like pigs when their 6 million Euro subsidy of the A380 goes straight down the toilet.
Memo to the EU: fuck with us, and we'll fuck with you. And you'll lose.
It's Linux, damnit! Pay no attention to renaming attempts by self-aggrandizing blowhards.
So, open source software can't make it on it's own, so you want to take the money people paid to Microsoft, presumably because they like the product (I know I like Windows), and give it to a bunch of losers whose product nobody is willing to spend a nickle on so maybe they can make it better. Yeah, that makes sense.
Linux can't compete in the free market, so they want daddy government to bail them out, weenies.
497 million euros. that sure will buy a lot of niggers.