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EU Says Microsoft Still Not Compliant
what about writes "News.com is reporting that the European Union still doesn't consider Microsoft in compliance with its anti-trust ruling." From the article: "Should the Commission issue a final decision against Microsoft, the software giant would face a retroactive fine of $2.36 million a day for the period between Dec. 15 and the date the final decision is issued. The Commission may then take additional steps to extend the daily fine until Microsoft complies with the order. The Commission's letter is just the latest action it has taken in the closely watched antitrust case. "
enough of a fine to make breaking the law an unprofitable method of doing business? I doubt it, given how much money Microsoft has saved up.
"Stop selling products in Europe."
Yay! I'd actually be very happy about that decision. Anyone who uses windows for home mostly pirates it here, but the government would be forced to not buy the overpriced Windows any more (The government here also bought windows licenses for everyone in higher education - they could axe that too!).
Hurray for EU!
It takes a man to suffer ignorance and smile
Be yourself no matter what they say
Deny tech support to companies/users in Europe.
yes, imagine the backlash as thousands of companies in Europe start suing Microsoft for breach of contract when MS refuses them support. That ought to go down well with the shareholders.
+5 insightful, fuck off! This guy has no idea what he's talking about.
No but, yeah but, no but...
That would be more that risky, it would be suicide.
Everybody in EU would start looking for altenatives to Windows and some of them would even find better solutions than what the had with windows.
And for those who would'nt find an avaiable replacement that meets their requiement there would be hundreads of companies in EU that pops up to provide them with one.
That would be very good for the EU , open source software and Apple and realy bad for Microsoft
IF the EU want to make Open source solutions more palatable, then this is Yet another way to stop the population from paying the MS tax.
Once the people get angry, I'm sure the officials would change their minds real quick.
People should not get angry, just stop being so simply, when there are alternatives. And don't forget IBM is all ready there to support the change. Check it out
If they do that, it opens room for Open Source and other competitors to move in. It would be kind of risky for them to do that. I think at this point, they have more to lose by not complying than trying to fight it. $2.36 Million a day. They may have tons of moeny, but that adds up quick and they have other investments to think about as well. As of today, that's 200 million and counting. With legal proceedings lasting as long as they do, this could turn out to be quite a big fine.
Someone save me from this sanity.
Like Microsoft would do that?
I agree that it would hurt Microsoft's image in Europe but it would also hurt the EU's image and many politicians would lose their job. Offices need Microsoft and have proprietary formats for data from win32 specific apps. THey can't just switch.
These offices pay in the form of lobbying particular politicians to office. If the EU's anticompetitive commision grows any balls then heads will roll and people will be fired until it finds employees friendly to Microsoft. Just look at what happened in the US when ms lobbied heavily when it was on trial?
Either way its suicide for the EU and Microsoft just may win. It will have a black eye in the short term but in the long term it will get what it wants by playing chicken.
http://saveie6.com/
Actually this would be great for the US. Let European corporations figure out how to effectively switch away from MS, and then we can just swoop in and adopt the finished product.
Still just a slap...
/. mantra is that MS did evil by adding features to their OS without adding cost. I know that people believe it's black-and-white antitrust for giving huge discounts to OEM's for volume license agreements in which all machines sold had Windows instead of some niche OS that has zero relevance to the OEM's marketshare. But the reality is that governemnt should never have this much heavy handed control over business, and the EU is essentially stealing US dollars on the backs of the underdogs. Do you really think the consumer or BeOS will get a dime of this? Please. Keep the government out of this. IBM switching to Linux and Apple taking on the home market are all I need to see that we have a healthy and competitve marketplace without government intervention.
No, it's still extortion. I know the typical
There is no longer anything that can be done with computers that is nontrivial and clearly legal. -- Paul Phillips
This way MS can't do the "DOS isn't done until Lotus won't run" business to anybody ever again. This means that they have to actually compete, rather than driving app vendors out of business with OS tricks. This means more choice and lower prices for EU computer customers. That's the point.
And if MS refuses to pay, then the EU can start grabbing MS assets in Europe - like maybe the Irish operation that MS uses to hide money from US taxes? Or is Ireland not part of the EU? (Should check, but I'm lazy.) The EU could also block MS from selling in the EU, which, since it's about a third of their business, and MS's annual income is about $40 billion, would amount to about a $13 billion fine. No, I think Microsoft will pay, grumbling loudly to the press all the while...
Well, I doubt this, strongly.
A public outcry in Europe to back an US monopolist trying to strongarm a European institution? You must be dreaming!
As soon as this issue comes to the headlines and frontpages, MS would draw all the widespread critique of US hegemonialism and cowboy politics on itself. And this is not limited to single nations or leftwing circles at all but is a view shared by many in the upper ranks of corporate Europe as well.
And there are lots of anti-US sentiments in latency which would tend to manifest themselves if such an issue was driven to a confrontation.
To become a symbol of "typical American" is a pr disaster and I do not think MS will offer themselves as a scapegoat like that.
In fact, one of the factors that allowed MS to grow strong here was the emphasis they put on localisation. And this was not invented in Redmond, Wash., it was an issue put forward by European branches, and Redmond listened, and took the advice.
Of course this is only speculation on my part but I wouldn't be surprised to learn they still know to listen to the locals and know better than to risk a full scale open confrontation.
605413? Yes, it's a prime.
So let me get this straight the EU wants Microsoft to Document there propietary protocols because Microsoft does a great job of integrating all of there technologies, and making it easy for Admins and users alike to use them.
No, that is not why. The reason is that Microsoft has a sufficiently large proportion of desktop systems (usually through bundling arrangements with PC companies) that, if it keeps these proprietary protocols private, it can force sales of server systems above the level that might be sold if others could provide adequate alternatives.
This is the point - this is using a monopoly in one market (desktop OSes) to gain an advantage in another (server OSes).
There is nothing wrong in itself with having a total or near-monopoly in one market, if that is obtained by fair means. The legal problem is if you use that position to block competition in other markets.
Correct me if I'm wrong but couldn't Novell, or Red Hat, or Unix, Mac all try there hand at integrating all of there services and products just like Microsoft. The problem is Linux, Unix, and Mac cannot compete with Microsoft because they do not integrate there technologies as well.
Unix and Mac have always had extremely well integrated technologies. I work with companies that have Linux on both desktops and servers and they work wonderfully well together.
But that is not the point. This is a minority situation. These companies need to be able to integrate with Windows on the desktop to compete. The EU says that Microsoft's dominance of the desktop along with the fact that it keeps certain protocols private and undocumented prevents this.
Microsoft, however, contends it has gone above and beyond industry requirements for documentation.
I never knew there was such a thing as industry requirements for documentation.
-- Cheers!
Microsoft uses an internal API that is not openly documented. That's uncompetitive, which happens to be illegal when you're as big as Microsoft. What is the EU going to do in oeder to get Microsoft to comply? Issue a $100M fine? How cute. The only thing that might ever get Microsoft to cave in is constant pressure, which is what the EU are applying. And it's not like Microsoft provided a full documentation and then the EU said "we're not going to take it, give us more". An independent company checked the documentation and decided that it's nowhere near adequate.
If you don't think that a corporation should be fined more than once ever you can write to your MP.
USE HOT GRITS WITH STATUE OF NATALIE PORTMAN (NAKED AND PETRIFIED)