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The Future of Innovation At Stake?

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the bum-bum-bummmmmm dept.

Neuropol writes "Next week, Microsoft will launch a challenge against the European Union's highest court. The European Commission will need to decide if they are to overturn the EU Court's 2004 Anti-Trust case ruling. Amid arguments over the usual suspects like Windows Media Player, one of the key points of the CNN article that caught my attention was this quote from a EU Commission lawyer stating that Microsoft aims 'to eliminate the openness of the Internet, to proprietize the Internet, the lawyer said, adding the groundwork will be laid in Microsoft's forthcoming new operating system, Vista.'"

3 of 210 comments (clear)

  1. Old dog, old tricks. by yagu · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Key article quote:

    "What Microsoft is talking about is freedom for them to innovate, not others," said lawyer Thomas Vinje, representing a group of competitors that will speak at the hearing."
    and:
    Last year, Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer told Germany's Manager Magazin: "We needed the first years to conquer the PC and those following to be ahead in the server business. In the upcoming years we'll conquer the Internet."

    Seems Microsoft, et. al., especially Balmer are back to their old swagger when they talk so boldly about "conquering". Remember Ballmer, during the US DOJ investigation was the one who said "Janet Reno can go to Hell."

    (And, before any business experts go off on "a company's business is to make money by conquering a market", remember, Microsoft is already convicted of abusing its monopoly position to introduce an imbalance in other markets. This is exactly the position Balmer takes so boldly in his interview.)

    Amazing.

  2. This Latest Microsoft Arguement Reminds Me... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    This latest Microsoft argument reminds me of one of my favorite things in the whole world.

    And that is watching someone get so mad that not only do they stop making sense, but they lose the ability to even form grammatically sensible sentences.

    Seeing someone, or in this case, company just fucking lose it is a rare and wonderful sight to see.

  3. Re:It's been their goal all along by tarpitcod · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Its the 'Walled Garden' approach - and the market has shown that getting it right is tough.

    To get it right you need to either:

    1) Offer unique content / services / paradigm which has more value than other freely (or cheaper) content from another source

    2) Make a big wall - so the consumer has no choice.

    Doing 1) Is tough - case in point - AOL.
    Doing 2) Consumers will run away to the more 'free' choice.

    There are counter examples - I mean this is on Slashdot - so clearly Slashdot holds some value which results in the usage of it.

    The 'do it all' and extend with proprietary extensions concept is common. You still have to do 1) - if you add proprietary goo that doesn't do something useful nobody will use it / people will use the more open standard.

    Even if your standard is better you may lose the war too if theres something else out there that is 'good enough' and cheaper...