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South Korea Fines Microsoft $32 Million
laffer1 writes "South Korea has fined Microsoft $32 million and ordered two new versions of Windows be made. The first version will be stripped of Windows Media Player and MSN IM software and the second must include links to competitors."
The difference here is that MSN messenger wasn't just an app. It was an entire service.
If I get Gaim with a distro, I won't get an account. I have to go to a third party service, get a Jabber, MSN, AIM or what have you account, then I can use Gaim. With MSN messenger, I have to go to a Microsoft service (MSN), and am indeed persuaded and encouraged to go there. I sign up to their service, and continue to use the client packaged with the OS. There's a clear distinction here.
I'm not sure how MSN messenger works exactly, but I imagine that signing up for an MSN account is all but an automated process at this point.
The second difference is of course that Microsoft has a monopoly position in the desktop market and is clearly (ab)using that monopoly to leverage their position in the IM market. By packaging MSN messenger with their OS, they are cutting off the competition's oxygen.
May the Maths Be with you!
You know, it just sounds like you did a good job of describing Linux. I mean, take away all that stuff you described, and what's left? A kernel, prettymuch... and the 'OEMs' you describe, are, in this case, the distributions. Taking an operating system core with nothing else attached and packaging in all these extra tools you mention is ~exactly~ what the people Red Hat, Debian, Slackware, Ubuntu, and so on do as a matter of course. It's their primary job.
I'm starting to think that Microsoft has a pre-set budget for these kind of expenses.
Every large company does. Many are even self-insured because it is cheaper to set aside the same amount of funds and just pay out huge sums of cash (not to mention revenue from outgoing lawsuits). I can't name names but I know this for a fact.
Also, I'm starting to feel sorry for Microsoft. Partially because they didnt steer to avoid this kind of trouble.
If it wasn't 32M for media player and IM it would have been something else. Some of the anti-Microsoft people won't be happy until Windows is nothing more than a Window manager like KDE. Then again....KDE and Gnome come with media players and GAIM so they better watch out....
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I - I took the one the bus load of girls just went down.
I don't know about you but I'd rather have Windows Media Player than RealPlayer or Quicktime installed by default.
Well, I don't know about you - but I would much rather have mplayer, Zoomplayer or Classic Media Player installed by default then Windows Media Player
The point here is currently only one entity can decide.
My pics.
...and it is a dream for application developers to be able to rely on a preinstalled component to handle the playing of video's.
And there is where the operating system services should come handy. Instead of providing a Media Player an Internet Browser the Operating System manufacturer should concentrate in creating a set of tools and APIs that can be used by developers to create END USER software to watch media and navigate internet.
Think about something like KHTML engine or what DirectX [DirectMedia] is supposed to do. As an operating system manufacturing you should provide the tool for application developers. And concentrate on doing that RIGHT.
Ubuntu is an African word meaning 'I can't configure Debian'
And possibly more to the point, 1. most Linux distributions come with multiple "competing" applications so the user gets a choice from the start and 2. whoever is bundling the applications generally doesn't make them themselves (Gaim, FireFox, etc. aren't made by KDE, Red Hat, Novell, etc).
http://blog.nexusuk.org