Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

EU Regulators Open New Microsoft Investigations

Posted by Zonk on from the same-thing-over-and-over dept.

The New York Times is reporting on two new investigations into Microsoft business practices opened by EU antitrust regulators. The new cases center on the company's positioning of Office and Internet Explorer, and were apparently partially prompted by Microsoft's earlier heel-dragging. "'It would have been preferable if these issues could have been resolved amicably with Microsoft,' said Jonathan Todd, a spokesman for the European competition commissioner, Neelie Kroes. 'But that has not proved to be the case. Therefore we have opened these formal investigations. That does not prove there is a violation. We will only be able to come to a conclusion after investigations.' The legal battle that ended last year involved the bundling of a media player with Windows and the availability of information required to make rival software operate smoothly with Microsoft products. In September, the Court of First Instance, Europe's highest after the European Court of Justice, endorsed the commission's 2004 decision to impose record fines on Microsoft."

3 of 64 comments (clear)

  1. All these investigations. by palegray.net · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    I honestly wonder sometimes... what are the real motivating factors behind these lengthy government investigations? It seems sometimes that it's just a case of politicians paying lip service to issues they really know nothing about, in an attempt to appear to the public as though they care about the underlying problems. You could also take the "follow the money" argument; how many peoples' jobs depend on efforts to fine companies for perceived wrongdoings? I'm certainly not trying to paint Microsoft in any sort of rosy light; I find a lot of their business practices to be pretty despicable (and have for a long, long time). I guess I'm saying we should be cautious granting trust to any party in circumstance where the stakes, whether political or financial (or both) are high.

    --
    512 MB RAM, 20 GB disk, 200 GB transfer, five datacenters. $19.95/month.
  2. MS Is Just Evil by curmudgeon99 · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    The bastards in Redmond deserve everything they get. They steal everybody's ideas and "innovate" very little. I say Bravo! to the EU! Nail the bastards!

  3. Re:MS pulls out of EU by msuarezalvarez · · Score: 1, Flamebait

    After all, it's just Europe, no? How negligible do you think the European market is for MS? What's Europe relative size? Say... it must be something like... Kentucky?

    In any case, maybe MS should have delayed a bit more the release of its recent products globally, from what I've heard...