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FSFE Supports Microsoft Antitrust Investigation
An anonymous reader sends us to LinuxElectrons.com for an announcement from the Free Software Foundation Europe, in the form of a letter (PDF) sent to the European Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes. FSFE offers to support a possible EU antitrust investigation of Microsoft, declaring that "Microsoft should be required openly, fully and faithfully to implement free and open industry standards." Opera Software issued a complaint to the Competition Commissioner based on anti-competitive behavior in the web browser market. FSFE president Georg Greve writes in the letter, "Although Opera Software does not produce Free Software, we largely share their assessment and concerns regarding the present situation in the Internet browser market."
Oh wow, FOSSies are supporting an attack on Microsoft? That's pretty surprising.
It's also surprising that their failure to win over customers needs a scapegoat, so now they are trying to get government to force customers to use FOSS. It's really surprising that they are seeking to screw over the consumer's ability to choose in their blind and obsessive hatred of Microsoft. Because we see what a success the version of Windows without Media Player bundled in has been in the EU.
It's completely insane that they are seeking to force a modern operating system to ship without a browser. And even more insane is that they are going to have one set of laws which apply to Microsoft, and one set of laws which apply to everyone else... since they aren't looking to unbundle Safari from OSX, and haven't been seeking to unbundle QuickTime from OSX.
Didn't we just have an article a few days ago about the next version of IE that's still in development passing the acid 2 test? That's about HTML and CSS standards right? Why would they be suing to get something that's already on the horizon anyway; wont the upcoming IE8 do everything they're asking? There will still be all those un-updated versions of IE out there that will remain none compliant with standards, but you can't mandate that people upgrade, and punishing MS retroactively for those copies that will never work with the new standards doesn't seem legal.
If you build it, nerds will come. Soylentnews.org
I hesitated, suspecting another minicity troll, before I clicked this link, but the link turns out to be legit.
By the way, yes, I didn't bother to proof read. No point when the parent is just a mindless GNU fanatic.
Oh, one more thing: I strongly suspect that at least half this argument has nothing to do with unbundling IE, and is really about forcing IE to comply with the web standards they've been shitting on all these years. And this provides a neat counterpoint to above -- if Apple had 90% and MS had 10%, Apple still wouldn't be under as much fire, because Webkit actually follows standards. Wasn't it the first to pass ACID2?
No, the point is that FOSSies can't win over consumers... and shockingly, consumers don't give two shits about "web standards". They just want a browser that works, and IE is the most stable and secure browser out there right now.
So now, since you guys still don't realize the "Browser Wars" are over, and Microsoft won, you are seeking to get your arbitrary standards written into law. That's going to eventually harm ALL us computer users. Once you make "web standards" into law, how long do you think it will be before lawmakers start taking over the creation of those standards? Are you really foolish enough to think they are going to let you guys write law?
Give up your blind hatred of Microsoft. Try getting a real IT job, and start realizing how happy businesses are with Windows, and how it does things no other operating system is doing. Lunix and OSX are niche products because they don't have those capabilities which allow them to compete. That's not Microsoft's fault.
The fault, dear Brutus, lies not in our stars,
But in ourselves, that we are underlings.