Slashdot Mirror
EC Suspends Microsoft Sanctions Due to Appeal
An anonymous reader writes "The European Commission has suspended sanctions against Microsoft stemming from a ruling that the group had abused its dominant market position."
← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)
Just patent sanctions in the EU. No more pesky anti-trust problems.
Hello,
The EC voted for patenting software. Why should we be impressed by this new decision?
Kisses
--
You'd stumble in my footsteps (Depeche Mode, "Walking in my shoes")
From article:
Microsoft was ordered to unbundle the software within 90 days - that deadline runs out on Monday.
Paraphrasing:
EU: "You must unbundle the software in 90 days"
Microsoft: "Is it ok if I decide to not do it instead of doing it?"
EU: "Ok!"
Sometimes, court rulings should be just that.
It would be cool if it didn't suck.
Given that even CERT is now warning against teh use of some MS components I hope that the rest of the platform gets the thumbs down it richly deserves.
Anyone involved in risk management shoudl by now have woken up to the fact that the MS platform combines high cost with high risk. Does it surprise anyone that people choose alternatives that combine low risk with low cost?
The law is too slow - let the market decide.
"I agree. When you're thrown in jail for being convicted of a crime, they don't let you go just because you're put in for an appeal. They throw your ass in jail and you can wait there."
Martha Stewart is out pending her appeal. So yes it happens, in fact it happens quite often especially in cases involving nonviolent crimes, white collar crimes etc.
This is stupid. When anyone appeals a judgement against them, the sentence is suspended until the outcome of the appeal - when the verdict is in doubt (it's being appealled), you shouldn't be punished.
If MS loses the appeal, then the judgement will be reinstated. This is normal.
jon
Screw the code.
Screw the money.
Screw "business remedies".
All of these could be said to "excessively hurt Microsoft", and most importantly *do not reduce barriers to entry* (with the possible partial exception of the code).
What competitors *really* need is Microsoft forced to open their file formats and network protocols, so that they can fully interoperate.
Microsoft got where they were by bundling products together and keeping them from interoperating with competitors' products. Fining Microsoft and then letting them continue doing what they were doing may help out the EU, but doesn't do a whole lot to solve the problem.
There are *very* few arguments Microsoft can make against opening file formats and network protocols. There is minimal IP value in each -- it doesn't take a smegging horde of PhDs years of research to create the Word file format. It does nothing but help the consumer, and helps mean that Microsoft always needs to compete.
They've realized the product cycles of the software world are smaller than the amount of time it takes to run a court case. This basically means you can violate whatever laws you like, and no one will do anything, because they can't stop you until winning a court case; but by the time they manage to run the court case to completion, the company you were violating said law against is bankrupt, the product you were doing it with has been replaced, the violation is no longer relevant to what you're doing currently, and no one seems to care so much about punishment because what's happened is in the past...
Irritable, left-wing and possibly humorous bumper stickers and t-shirts
I am not at all surprised MS is making progress on this appeal. The ruling was really a piss poor way for the EU to flex its collective muscle against a US corporate giant. Not that MS doesn't deserve to be investigated for anit-competitive business practices. In particular the recent (or not so recent for some) revelations that MS has been funding nearly all of the so called independant studies showning MS products as better, faster, safer and even cheaper than open source. The problem here is much like the problem with the Kyoto protocal. It's the right idea but so poorly drafted that it renders it completely meaningless. It is about time someone put MS in its place, but if you are going to use bull**** allegations to do it then you are going to fail in the end.
"Take that Lisa's beliefs!" - Homer Simpson
What the Commission has offered is to suspend the sanctions only for a few months until the Court rules on whether they are acceptable as "interim measures".
The European Court of Justice is expected to take several years to decide on the Microsoft appeal as a whole.
But the ECJ ruling on appropriate "interim measures" is expected much sooner, literally within months.
If they lose the appeal, do they have to pay interest from the date of the original decision?
If they stretch the case over a period of a couple of years, that could increase the cost significantly.
Of course, in that time, M$ piggybank would have grown so much to make losing the appeal(s) neglible.
Pain is merely failure leaving the body
So there it is. Like the Americans, we oh-so-superior Europeans now know that we too have the best 'justice' that money can buy.
Julia Cameron
Oich ù agus hiùraibh éile