Microsoft Loses EU Anti-Trust Appeal

Kugrian writes "Microsoft has lost its appeal against a record 497m euro (£343m; $690m) fine imposed by the European Commission in a long-running competition dispute. The European Court of First Instance upheld the ruling that Microsoft had abused its dominant market position."

Comments

Chinese Takeout

[sanityonleave]

Okay, to clarify, I'm not a fan of M$. They obviously have been involved in anti-competitive practices in the past, and I don't doubt that if they get the chance to use their market dominance to thwart competition again, they'll do it. However, there's a bigger issue than that involved; namely, the EU regulatory commission has an incredible anti-American bias. Basically, it's oldschool nationalist protectionism.

Does anyone even pay attention to Airbus vs. Boeing? The EU complained vehemently at the relatively mild import taxes leveled towards Airbus in the United States, while Boeing has had to deal with extraordinary protectionist import tariffs for years, as well as the fact that Airbus was SUBSIDIZED by the EU to the tune of several BILLION dollars. Micro$haft is anti-competitive for bundling its software package together in an OS, yet it's not anticompetitive for the EU to level huge (as much as 60% in some cases) import tariffs on Boeing while subsidizing Airbus for billions of Euro? And then they had the gall to complain about US tariffs? Come on, folks. Let's not let the utter hatred of M$ get in the way of seeing that this is more international politics at work than anything.

The EU and the Euro were created to fight the United States' financial power and the US dollar's financial power, respectively. The Euro has done remarkably well against the dollar except for a brief period right after its inception, and the EU's market power continues to grow. The fact is, though, they're not satisfied with their increasing market power; the EU has every intention of making it very difficult for American companies to hold substantial market share in Western Europe. It's the politics, ladies and gentlemen, not the monopoly.

How can you folks not smell the rat? It's been decaying for weeks in the vents, the whole house smells like death, and you guys are concerned that someone left the chinese takeout in the trash. Faites attention, s'il vous plait.

Re:I still don't like it.

[DaveV1.0]

Wow. You obviously hate America and Americans. Why don't you just stop using American products all together, mmmkay.