EU Fines Microsoft $1.3 Billion

jd writes "The EU has slammed Microsoft with a fine of €899 million ($1.337 billion at current exchange rates) for perpetuating violations of the 2004 antitrust ruling.The fine is the sum of daily fines running from June 21, 2006 to October 21, 2007. It is the first company ever to be fined for non-compliance. The amazing thing is that the EU now expects Microsoft to comply and 'close a dark chapter' in their history. The EU has opened new investigations into Microsoft's practices and gave a lukewarm response to the company's turning over yet another new leaf last week."

Comments

Re:1.3 billion

[ZenDragon]

Thanks for your comments troll. Nowhere in that statement did I actually imply that I did know what I was talking about. I simply stated it seemed like somebody was pumping up the fine a bit for personal gain. I could give flying rats ass who's doing it, my only interest pertains to where its going. Sure its a matter of public record; giving said amount of money to Charity A that is run by City Official B. Or wait, does this money go to fix public facilities? To pay, 100 dollars an hour for repairs that would normally cost $30? Surely you don't just accept that there is no corruption in any legal system? It is my personal opinion that fines like this should be thoroughly investigated, every time they are issued. 1.3 Billion dollars is a extremely large sum of money to be awarded in a legal case. Last time it was reported (though I may be mistaken) Microsoft didn't even have that much cash on hand. Off topic, I find it amusing that 1.3 billion dollars can be awarded for a anti-trust case, but only $25,000 dollars per incident (maybe its more now) can be fined when a oil company dumps tons of toxic waste in a lake somewhere and killing/mutating half the wild life. If the courts wanted to fine this much money they should be awarding it back to the the businesses that sustained losses due to Microsoft practices, though that seems a bit difficult does it not? Nevertheless, that money has to go somewhere and you simply can not argue that there are a few that stand to make a fortune off of this case.

Re:MS can't win

[elrous0]

Oh, wait ... WHAT other operating system manufacturers are we talking about?

Then were are the fines for Apple (who still bundle all their media stuff in OS X just like MS)? Huh?

Hello?

You there?

Re:Ha ha ha ha...

[MightyMartian]

Good grief but the Microsoft shills are beginning to sound desperate. I mean, they've always been border line intellects, but now they're coming up with the most idiotic claims yet.

Re:MS can't win

[LingNoi]

IE is used as a "standard" browser and as a componentized browser all through the OS because it is a known constant.

No, IE is used as a web browser to push Microsoft's monopoly on the internet and desktop.

Check mail in MSN? IE pops up.. Get a domain name wrong? MSN search activated, ad revenue generated.

Any application that needs to render a page in a browser inside a shell window the application owns knows it can use IE, knows the exact API to do so, and knows what it will look like.

Thanks, you just proved my point as for why it should be ripped out. It has created an unfair advantage over competing products.

Euro vs. American Idea Of Rights

[maz2331]

In America, the general idea is that rights are granted by virtue of being born ("from God" or "natural law"). Governments in the American ideal merely recognize and protect pre-existing rights, they don't "give" them.

In Europe, the mindset is much more that the government grants the rights, and individuals have no "natural rights".