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Should Microsoft Be Excluded From EU Government Sales?
David Gerard writes "From Groklaw: Heidi Rühle, a Green Party MEP, has presented a question regarding whether or not Microsoft should be considered as having failed to fulfill the conditions to participate in public procurement procedures in Europe, as laid out in Article 93(b) and (c) of Financial Regulation — '(b) they have been convicted of an offense concerning their professional conduct by a judgment which has the force of res judicata; (c) they have been guilty of grave professional misconduct proven by any means which the contracting authority can justify' — and the Commission anti-trust penalty just happens to fulfill both of those conditions." The EU Commission is required to respond within 6 weeks to such a question from a member of Parliament.
They're feeling their oats. Feeling rich. Feeling powerful. But look what happened to Japan eventually...they entered into a long period of stagnation that they haven't really gotten out of yet. The European's love of regulation will eventually cause them the same problems. When that happens it'll be interesting to see how they react when the countries/companies that actually drive the world economy fail to come to their rescue like we have to every 50 years or so. At risk of adding even more politics to this comment, I'm a hard-core democratic. Far from a flaming right-winger. I belive government plays an important role in society. But nothing is more wrong-headed than government that tries to do things they're simply not capable of doing. Regulating markets is generally one of those. Sure, if Microsoft broke antitrust laws then they should penalized. Last time I checked they were...to the tune of about $1 billion and counting. Trying to prevent them from freely participating in commerce in Europe is just plain stupid.
...or are most people blind to the fact that just about every corporation out there today (and yesterday) had participated in monopolistic behavior at some point. I can name off quite a bit, so do all these too need to be banned from doing business?? Lol, Let who is without Sin be the first to throw a Stone!
EU is basically a criminal organisation in that they habitually make unreasonable laws!
Precluding them from doing further business and consequential damage to competition is much better than mere fines. I'm sure MS wouldn't bat a corporate eyelid before writing a check or checks needed to still compete in the EU.. like in the corrupted ISO voting process.
If you keep throwing chairs, one day you'll break windows....
Let me fix your sig - it doesn't make sense:
There are two types of Democrats: Trust-fund Millionaires, College Students, and Welfare Recipients.
(I mean, *somebody's* got to be spending it faster than the real grown-ups make it.)
(And there are only "two types" because the second is actually just a subset of the third.)
better microsoft than linsux.
You forgot about the world war in 2033!
China - 2008 - 1,321,851,888 (July 2007 est.)
USA - 2008 - 301,139,947 (July 2007 est.)
EU - 2008 - 495.5 million
And then...
USA - 2033 - 0 survivors.
EUR - 2033 - 0 survivors.
China - 2033 - 4 Billion.
Cue "I am Legend" quotes and references, but they do not apply.
The dangers of knowledge trigger emotional distress in human beings.
At this point it is clear that no one should order anything from Microsoft. Only a bribed or ignorant administrator could be convinced there's an overall technical benefits to the platform M$ insists on. The botnet menace and the general low quality of M$ code is enough to cancel any particular advantage such as accelerated graphics. What's more important, M$'s recent assault on the ISO shows that the monopoly is in full force. Anyone dumb enough to buy into M$ today for "legacy" reasons faces an imperfect migration to Vista/M$XML, which will force the entire population along, and more of the same in the next decade. Free and open systems provide far more friendly service. Even a simple move to Open Office on legacy M$ platforms promises to save billions that are better spent elsewhere. Liberating government and business from Windows' horrible security and update malice will save even more.
The problem really boils down to a large scale version of the problem you and I have if you buy a new computer and want to work with me. Because of M$'s anti-competitive practices, your new computer will come with Vista and Office 2007. If we want to work together, I could buy a new computer or you could download Open Office. The easier and more polite option is obvious and governments must never do the rude and hard thing. It would waste tax dollars twice, first when governments don't take advantage of their size to get the cheapest and best technical solution and second when the wrong choice forces everyone who would work with their government to go out an buy new computers.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.