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Microsoft Settles Korean Antitrust Case
Channy writes Microsoft announced on last Friday that it had reached a settlement with South Korean Internet portal Daum in antitrust case of IM bundling. Daum had complained to the South Korean Fair Trade Commission in 2001, accusing Microsoft of breaking the law by tying its instant messaging software to Windows. A lawsuit on the same grounds was filed in 2004. By the settlement, Microsoft will pay Daum $30 million, including $10 million in cash. In return, Daum would drop its lawsuit. Before this decision, Microsoft has threatened to withdraw its Windows software from South Korea if the country's antitrust agency orders it to unbundle its instant-messaging and media player software from the operating system. Despite this settlement, KFTC announced plans to continue investigation of this case and conclude the final decision within this year."
Is it me, or is everywhere I turn a lawsuit against Microsoft, in some form?
~The TwoTailedFox posts again....
wow...good going threatening extreme stability for the South Korean computer industry.
Microsoft will pay Daum $30 million, including $10 million in cash
Where's the 20M$ remaining? Are they paying in licenses? Again? How long before MS licenses are on the forex rates?
I hadn't the slightest objection to his spending his time planning massacres for the bourgeoisie... (P.G. Wodehouse)
Microsoft will pay Daum $30 million, including $10 million in cash.
So.. the other $20M will be in the form of an NSF cheque?
And when is the drop for the cash going down? Is the $10M going to be in small, non-sequentially numbered, unmarked bills?
I mean, how much money they would be getting anyway from all those windows copies sold in Korea? My bet, is that's just their investment in their "world damination project".
otherwise how would it look like if whole Korea switched off windows?
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#\ @ ? Colonize Mars
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What will happen when China stops using Windows and also becomes the leading maker and buyer of PCs? Companies that do business with China (and most do) will see less and less advantages in staying 100% Windows and less and less likely to buy Microsoft's nonstandard applications.
Two wrongs don't make a right, but three lefts do.
And ofcourse, after they make it go through, sue everybody with a new version of windows in S Korea=Still income for Microsoft.
Or complain to the US goverment that the US software industry is loosing ground in Asia, and that Linux is stronger than ever.
My wife's sketchblog Blob[p]: Gastrono-me
It used to be if "you can't win, join them" it seems that Microsoft has redefined it :-)
Gosh, they may even patent it as a business practice !!
By the settlement, Microsoft will pay Daum $30 million, including $10 million in cash. In return, Daum would drop its lawsuit.
OK, but "justice has not been served". The problem of unfairly putting Microsoft's IM client in a favorable light is still there, and this company will still lose their market share to them, and consumers will still be worse off for having lost some competition.
Winner: The one with the deepest pockets! Subverting the not-quite-free-market to hurt consumers everywhere!
Why stick up for big business?
$10 million cash payment by Microsoft to Daum, $10 million in advertising deals and unspecified business terms worth a further $10 million.
So that's only really $10mil. The advertising probably won't cost MS much (they probably couldn't sell it for $10mil to anyone else - they wouldn't advertise a competitor anywhere noticeable anyway), and "unspecified business terms"? That's just giving MS more business - even if they don't make money from it, they won't lose much (they have to employ all their people anyway - might as well keep them busy).
So Daum gain $30mil, prehaps, but MS don't lose anywhere near that much. I don't know South Korean law, but I expect they could have won far more if they'd gone to court.
$10 million in Korean dollars is what -- like seventy-three cents?
After all, Microsoft is in a position to throw money around like 50 Cent in a rap video. This is simply a payment to make their problems not only go away in Korea, but to keep other countries from thinking that they can investigate Microsoft in the same way. The fact that the Koreans still want to investigate them is ecouraging, but not really meaningful IMHO.
There's nothing to see here. Move along.
This is my opinion. To make sure you don't steal it, it's covered by the DMCA.
...that M$ continues to bundle, just like before. I have come to one conclusion. Courts in Korea are just as inept as those in this USA. Sad indeed.
Just a while ago Microsoft had settled a lawsuit with Real Networks for $761 million. $256 million just went to malaria research from the Gates foundation. Is 30 million realy a big issue for Microsoft?. Its probably Bill Gates' wife missing 2 days grocery shopping. It makes sense why Microsoft would pay even after threatening to government to 'Withdraw Windows from the Korean Market' if the government did not comply with Bill Gates rules. Funny how eventualy Bill Gates will have more power than smaller governments, and the day is not far when we shall see news articles like 'Bill Gates urges Israel to re-write its constitution allowing more political power to the already predominantly Microsoft based computer economy in the country'. A few weeks ago Bill Gates had made a statement in Israel declaring war on google. Just think about it for a while. Bill Gates goes to a war infested country to say 'I am declaring war on Google, are ya with me folks?'.
Microsoft has threatened to withdraw its Windows software from South Korea if the country's antitrust agency orders it to unbundle its instant-messaging and media player software from the operating system.
Spooky.
Massachussets is involved in a case with Microsoft over the future of digital documents. MA has made it a requirement that all records be stored in a completely open digital format, and have recommended that the OpenDoc standard qualifies (along with Adobe's PDF) and that Microsoft's new MSXML doesn't.
Microsoft is imposing some restrictions on the MSXML format -- and it would appear that they might be able to change those restrictions at some future time.
If they are willing to cut off an entire country, then potentially it may be impossible legally to read and modify that country's documents. Massachussets has to be aware that if it could happen to Korea, it could potentially happen to MA if they are too uppity.
We'll see if Massachussets officials can withstand the full-court press of Microsoft's hard-bought political muscle, but if anything should give those officials some backbone, it's this kind of nonsense.
Thad Beier
I love Mondays. On a Monday, anything is possible.
Is that a promise? Please? Can anybody sue Microsoft if they don't follow through?
;-)
From the article: "Analysts say the payment would alleviate a cash shortage at Daum, which acquired Lycos Inc. last year and has been suffering heavy costs linked to restructuring efforts at the U.S. portal."
So, what was this lawsuit about? How does this settlement help anybody but Daum and Microsoft? I'm glad the KFTC is still looking into this; there doesn't seem to have been any real improvement in the Korean market through this settlement, or any wins for the end user (unless you're a Daum shareholder).
$nice = $webHosting + $domainNames + $sslCerts
But I personally see no problem with bundling their client with the operating system, or even the media player for that matter. Most users use the computer as an appliance, they want it to just work. They dont want to go find an IM client and media player and install it, they expect it to just be there. If you dont like it, remove access to it via GPEDIT.
What I DO have a problem with is the amount of "digging" the average person has to do to find a way to remove them if they dont want them there.
The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.
- Winston Churchill
Does this mean that Apple will have to unbundle Quicktime from Tiger if it ever ships to South Korea or other countries with anti-trust laws as well?
He who knows best knows how little he knows. - Thomas Jefferson
Microsoft Gives Daum $30Million, South Korea switches to Ubuntu. $30Mil would buy what, 60,000 computers that could run Ubuntu smoothly? (monitor included) And they could choose whether or not to install an instant messenger application!
A Skit:
"Now the trouble about trying to make yourself stupider than you really are is that you very often succeed." -C.S. Lewis
offer to provide their OS to all of Korea for $5 million? http://linux.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/11/05/ 0749253&tid=109&tid=106&tid=219
Personally, I don't really like the idea that some companies now are big enough to try to extort a mid-sized country. If I were South Korea, I'd really be worried what other global players might do in a few years time.
I guess this is one of the reasons why the European Union exists. One country alone, if it isn't a really big one like the US, is simply too small a market to matter to the global players if you annoy them too much. AFAIK, Microsoft never threatened to withdraw their products from the European market during the antitrust proceedings there.
"Oh, a lesson in not changing history from Mr I'm-my-own-Grandpa." - Dr Hubert Farnsworth
Banning the ability to install other IM clients is anti-competitive, not merely bundling.
Let's sue Apple for bundling their programs into their OS.
Jesus christ people, at least be consistent.
Blame the user, not the software.
Seoul has been staring down an insane tyrant hellbent on invading for a halfcentury. Maybe they won't blink while keeping an eye on Microsoft, which has already infiltrated.
--
make install -not war
Why is legal to say "Here's some money, forget I broke the law." ?
You know a company has gotten too big when it can threaten a country.
Anonymous Cowards suck.
Microsoft to Withdraw, Im sure that will hurt Korea really bad, as all the workstation are still using the fckgw windows serial.
-- I Dont Deserve A Sig I Have Bad Karma
Apple can just say "but we had to bundle it to compete with Microsoft." When a company's market share approaches or is an effective monopoly, you have to hold it to different standards than competing companies for capitalism to work.
I see nothing wrong with bundling software.
How many of us would care things like an LCD screen with GPS tracking, CD/MP3 player deck, temperature controlled environment, carpets, rear view cameras on the car were standard in a car.
Why not in an OS? Cause its MS? Its their OS, they have a right to put what they want and sell it just as much as GM, Honda or Toyota does.
'The consumer would like a choice' argument doesn't work here because most avg consumers want something that just works.
Reaching a "settlement" is just another way of saying that Microsoft is not going to just give up on a country, as much as their legal/PR team wants to say that they would have no problem taking their toys and leaving S. Korea. Instead of having to back up their threat to leave S. Korea, they are just trying another tactic by settling with them (read: bribing). Because if Microsoft does leave, the flip side is that the other countries that are really tired of Microsoft's strong-arm tactics will suddenly witness *HOW* to get rid of Microsoft from their native soil - something that Microsoft, already embattled and pressured by Linux, does not truly want to see happening.
Should Apple allow other companies to manufacture their computers using their operating system for a lower price in order to gain a greater market share? Or is that inherently a bad idea for Apple?
He who knows best knows how little he knows. - Thomas Jefferson
The whole issue of bundling, in this case the bundling of an instant messanger by Microsoft with its dekstop OS, is in some violation of anti-trust laws is just bullshit. Same for internet browser bundling or any other application bundle for that matter.
When you buy a car, is the radio, GPS Navigation, seats, headlights, tires or any of the thousands of parts for that matter and included, essentially bundled with the product also a violation of some interpretation of anti-trust laws?
Of course not, because no one has chosen to make an issue of it since these days its chic to be a Microsoft basher, a now global phenom with everyone joing the fray. Thats not to say Microsoft is not guilty in some respects of anti-trust violations past or present but at this point, its way beyond reason.
Ever notice the players that have lined up...
Anti-Miscrost=leftist loving EU pundits promoting Open Source Software Socialism (now hinting that software patents threaten open source)who are typically anti-capitalist, anti-american and now in the process of hindering commerce (pro-american that is) via global litigation in markets across the globe.
Other companies now facing the same, GE, Boeing etc etc.
Microsoft is a metaphor for US and this battle is a microsm of the larger war against anything american, be it products or policy.
I hope you all get your wish and bundling of any sort is eliminated so you can see how ridiculous you all look when you have to choose the buttons for the shirt you just purchased or each individual part to a cell phone, car, house etc.
I am sure you would all change your tune pronto and if you dont, may you get your stupid wish!
..only old people run Windows.
That's because old people move to slowly to get away from it. Look at Microsoft - they're fast - not only can they get away from it, but they appear to be getting away WITH it.
How many beans make five, anyhow ?