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China Launches Antitrust Probe Vs. Microsoft
snydeq writes "China has launched an investigation into whether Microsoft unfairly dominates its software market, according to a state media report. A working committee of China's State Intellectual Property Office is investigating whether Microsoft engaged in discriminatory pricing and will also look at Microsoft's practice of bundling other software programs within its Windows operating system, according to the report. The probe is part of a greater sweep of operating systems and other software developed by multinational companies that cost much more in China than in the U.S. 'On the one hand, global software firms, taking advantage of their monopoly position, set unreasonably high prices for genuine software while on the other hand, they criticise Chinese for poor copyright awareness. This is abnormal,' a source said."
I don't think you can call it a monopoly if all the companies software in your country is pirated.
"Thank you for using Stop-n-Drop, America's favorite suicide booth since 2008"
What use would Communist China have for anti-Trust laws
Next I hope is an antitrust probe of the Chinese government in business.
"set unreasonably high prices for genuine software while on the other hand, they criticise Chinese for poor copyright awareness. This is abnormal"
Actually, that sounds pretty normal to me.
Murphey's fighting Occam, and we're in the stands.
Don't read too much into the story. All it means is one more high party official is looking to get his share of payments to the top officials in China. Once a few million $ are safely handed over, the probe will be frozen, to be thawed only during the negotiations of the next payment.
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
In other words, China is jumping on the bandwagon of countries that is playing the "Sue Microsoft Lottery" to get some extra cash. I mean, I don't like Microsoft's products, particularly their operating systems, because I think they've completely lost touch with what a computer is supposed to do, but when it comes down to it, it's our fault, not Microsoft's, that their junk software is so ingrained in the entire computing industry. We are the ones who vote with our dollars, and so, if you don't like Microsoft, or their software doesn't get the job done for you, then don't pay them your money. But don't wine and complain about them either. And certainly don't play the Microsoft lottery. That's ridiculous.
McCain/Palin '08. Now THAT's hope and change!
No they criticize China because you are a bunch of pirating communist scum. As to price manipulation being a bad thing... from a communist country that has practiced both price controls and currency manipulation. Not to mention the closed market.... This is just a chance for China to shake MS down.
So there is an anti-trust investigation over the one legitimate copy of Windows in China?
This post brought to you by your friendly neighborhood MBA.
In other news Microsoft is seeking an injunction against the FOSS community for unfair competition practices. "It is entirely unfair that they offer their software at such unreasonable prices. The pricing policy of not charging users for the applications they use severely impacts our market penetration.", a Microsoft Sales Representative said.
When you pay $5 (if at all) for a pirated copy of Windows, you don't have the right to complain about what's bundled with it.
You do realise right that china ceased being communistic ages ago and they are now an oligopoly run by a few rich/powerful old men, and the odd woman. In a semi free market economy under the influence of heavy government regulaton and price fixing/controls.
Because we all know that the Communist party knows all about creating Monopolies.
The real question is what do they really want?
III.IIVIVIXIIVIVIIIVVIIIIXVIIIXIIIIIIIIVIIIIVVIII
In Communist China, Microsoft probes YOU!
... car makers bundling radios, gps, air bags and brakes within vehicles. More at 11.
Isn't Microsoft selling a slim version of XP on the chinese market to thwart piracy for like 5 bucks a copy?!
Commie software pirates vs. Monopolistic MegaCorp. Who will the people side with? Who will win?
HA HA!
Once again, China is just copying other countries. I bet their probe will be half the cost, too.
Just another step in China's eventual bludgeoning of the American economy. First you openned the door to trade with them. Now they outproduce you, and now they seek to sue your comapnies for wrong dealings while undercutting your prices and pirating the hell out of your goods. A lot of good people saw this coming, and now we just sit back and watch the sad dance play out to its bitter end.
US trades with China.
China outproduces USA on material items.
USA moves to Intellectual Property.
China ignores IP laws except where it suits them to make money.
US economy collapses
China is new global superpower.
That just gave me the best chuckle I've had all day
If we can put a man on the moon, why can't we shoot people for Apollo-related non-sequiturs?
"Organized crime doesn't exist in China, the government doesn't like the competition"
China To Microsoft: "You're trying to have a monopoly on what we've rightfully stolen"
let go of the shitty 1950s mccarthian scare about communism already ffs.
Read radical news here
Perhaps this is a prelude to the Chinese government looking to do something better with American dollars than have them sitting in US government debt. If the Party were looking to buy out Microsoft, they could really have the rest of the world bent over a barrel, enjoying a tremendous amount of control over anyone that uses MS software.
Not only that, it finally gives the BSA the power it's looking for - let's hear it for the Chinese military fighting the BSA's battles to defend Microsoft's owners and their IP...
I guess China noticed how the EU keeps extorting Microsoft for a few billion a year, and figured they want some of that.
After all, the EU has set up an entire class of laws which apply to Microsoft, and nobody else. Like how Microsoft can't bundle a media player with their OS... and yet every other OS company is ok with having a bundled media player. Same thing with the browser: Opera can't compete in the market, so they are trying to legislate their way into sales using that same precedent. So it's ok for Apple and Linux to include a web browser... but the EU is going to say it's not ok for Windows to have a browser.
When you are looking to extort money from somebody, you don't need a reason, you need a pretext. And that's all they can ever come up with when they try to legislate their way into Microsoft's pocket.
The FOSSies may love trying to legislate their way into market share (even though it's not actually working- Linux's market share has been stagnant for over a decade)... but it's damaging the computer industry as a whole.
Who do you want deciding what applications and products we are allowed to use: the marketplace and yourself, or the government and lawmakers? The FOSSies are trying to make it the latter, since they can't win. It's more important for them to win, than for all of us to have choice- they are supposedly all about choice... unless people dare choose commercial software.
China has over a Trillion dollars just sitting around, that's right, with a 'T'. They need MS' money as much as they need to increase birth rates.
Why would you want to stop upgrading your software? Usually newer versions of software are better then previous versions of software. Maybe you meant to say stop paying for upgrades?
My box is in perpetual upgrade. The xorg-x11-Xnest package can't install right and so I always have 1 available update in my tray.
Sorry, but where do you people come from and is it really necessary to be this stupid?
Web2.0: I love when people Flickr my cuil and digg my boingboing until my google is reddit and I start to yahoo
Perhaps this really isn't about the end user in China at all, rather it's about computer Chinese computer manufacturers that are being forced to sell their systems bundled with Windows and being gouged at it. China does seem to make just about anything (and everything). I'd think that since end users in China just seem to pirate the 'doze already, the real losers in China are legitimate computer manufacturers who 'lose' tons of money buying licenses to bundle with their machines. It's government looking out industry. A classic maneuver in most any country.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Anything against Microsoft = I agree :)
Let's go China!
> which apply to Microsoft, and nobody else
You do know what the meaning of "mono" in monopoly is, right?
What a laughable troll.
I wait for the day that the EU go after "Linux" for abusing a monopoly position. LOL
China? HA HA! Microsoft? BUHAH HA HAAA! China and Microsoft. This is seriously funny.
On a slightly more serious note, I think the people attacking Microsoft's "monopoly" position are out of line. Not only are there alternatives, like OS X, but there are FREE alternatives that clearly produce similar results, like the many flavors of Linux including Ubuntu. Furthermore, Microsoft products don't force you to use more Microsoft products, it's just generally more efficient if you do. But that's the case with any market, even kitchen appliances, car parts, and oral hygiene to name a few.
If everyone would just leave Microsoft alone they'll likely destroy themselves - look at Vista.
No sig for you. YOU GET NO SIG!
But just like with the EU, this is will be nothing more than an attempt to extort money from successful American corporations. I know /. hates MS, but any sincere customer centric resolution to anti-trust *outside* of the corpration's home country would be done diplomatically with that countries government.
So let's see the Chinese skipped the democracy part and went straight to fascism unlike here in the United States were we tried a semi-functional democracy for little while before making the switch.
See once again China is able to get to market faster by streamlining their manufacturing process, even in the political arena.
Does this mean a government that actually has the balls to do something about Microsoft without discussing how much it can hurt their business or allowing lobbyists and interests groups to undermine the legal system is finally going after them?
The best part about this is we won't have to wait 3 years to see where this goes.
"Most people, I think, don't even know what a rootkit is, so why should they care about it?"
hg
The axis of evil calls your business model evil.
Some days I get the sinking feeling Orwell was an optimist.
"A 'working' committee of China's State Intellectual Property Office"
When did China get a 'State Intellectual Property Office'? and at what point was it decided that it was 'working'? and, just what has China contributed to Intellectual Property, anyhow, aside from espionage or piracy?
the only permanence in existence, is the impermanence of existence.
Editors write confusing title Vs. Readers
Antitrust probe?
What a Joke!
On which of the millions of pirated copies of Microsoft OS ?
You can Buy XP pro in many languages without need for activation in Shanghai for $1.00 or less if you haggle and you know where to find it,.
Antitrust what?
on which of few legit copies is that ?
IMHO: I'm no friend of Microsoft, but for the commies to say antitrust over their rampant piracy is plain Bullshit, Commie Bullshit!!
"On a slightly more serious note, I think the people attacking Microsoft's "monopoly" position are out of line. Not only are there alternatives, like OS X, but there are FREE alternatives that clearly produce similar results, like the many flavors of Linux including Ubuntu. "
It's way way more complicated then that for a lot of people, for instance games on windows will have a severe lag time before they are supported under linux, if at all. In many instances OTHER companies products determine what you choose. It's the same for game consoles: Many people buy consoles not because of SONY but because of other 3rd party companies (specifically, square and Konami with metal gear solid 4).
Also there is also the issue of do most people give a shit? People care about operating systems like they care about what kind of butter knife they use. All they care about is what they use it for, you're dealing with herd like animals.
In the real world there is inertia and habit, that takes precedence over the idea of the informed rational agent of markets, that is, market fundamentalism. Most people are nothing like what many economists espouse, asserting that there is 'choice' doesn't matter when most product in question is seen as a tool like a screwdriver, rather then something like say a car, where people care about what kind of car they drive, etc. The level of interest and personal investment is completely different, and is very important.
"Whooooaaaaaaa.....China Probe."
Any doubts China is going to win this lawsuit...
Well, I tend to disagree.
Imagine you are responsible for the whole IT infrastructure of some company. The size of the company does not matter. Imagine you choose to deploy say Microsoft Office 2003 or (if you are more oriented or pushed towards smaller costs and/or increased "freedom") even OpenOffice.org .
Now try to imagine a reaction of a CEO of given company after:
To add more spice, imagine that client was a big one and potential income (and thus real loses) are quite big.
:)
All that thanks to inability or whatever of Microsoft to use and follow open standards or at least some decent backward compatibility and our quite small ability to push them toward that (thanks in quite big proportion to what some people call "dominant position in the OS market for PC" or, more importantly "dominant position in the office document format market for document exchange" which stems from the firts one), which would ussualy make the above example non issue.
hany
The world's leader in Microsoft software piracy launching an anti-trust probe against a company they've been violating for years...
No it doesn't...
It is hard to compare directly, but let's try.
Vista Home Premium (it has media center functionality): In China (according to Microsoft), 899 yuan ( http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/tech-news/?p=953 )
In USA: 239.95 usd ( http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/windowsvista/editions/homepremium/default.mspx ).
Asking google for the conversion:
899 Chinese yuan = 130.628296 U.S. dollars
So, a product produced in the US costs 1/2 in a foreign country. Am I allowed to now purchase Chinese product and sell in the US? To find out if this is worth it, let's get a retail (not msrp) price on Windows Vista Home Premium. Amazon lists some prices (no, we don't want the "upgrade" edition):
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0013O54OE/ref=dp_cp_ob_title_1
This prices at 209.99 usd (although it claims msrp is 269.99).
All told, the Chinese version is considerably less expensive.
Just another "Cubible(sic) Joe" 2 17 3061
Why every thread about China will end up with talking trash about China with anti-China emotion. People, open your eyes and don't just repeat what u heard from others. --A Chinese Slashdotter
...if this isn't the hammer calling the sickle black.
Ed R.Zahurak
You know, oblivion keeps looking better every day.
Lets hope it is not as bad as that one shall we? Don't look forward to WW3 at all even if it is my best chance of getting laid if I manage to be the only male survivor.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
Wow, I can't believe I'm on Microsofts side.
The PRC has looked the other way on intellectual property issues and while large number of their country freely pirate software. Now....they want an antitrust case?
"Not an actor, but he plays one on TV."
I wish people would stop calling China "communist," since it is not.
Hmm, let's see.... There is only one political party running China's government, and that would be their Communist Party. Plus they do not allow any of their other eight or so "political parties" to have any power and those 8 are only permitted to have any function whatsoever under the authority of the Communist Party.
Looks like a duck,
Walks like a duck.
Quacks like a duck.
But don't they leally rike pilacy over there? Isn't pilacy rike their poricy (de facto officirry)?
I see. So you think the US and EU antitrust experts don't understand what constitutes a monopoly, but that you do. Do enlighten us.
Not only are there alternatives, like OS X, but there are FREE alternatives that clearly produce similar results, like the many flavors of Linux including Ubuntu.So the top two "competitors" are an OS only sold bundled with hardware so it does not have to compete in the desktop OS market and an OS created by a non-profit cooperative in order to make a profit in other markets. And this is your evidence that the desktop OS market is not broken? Brilliant!
Furthermore, Microsoft products don't force you to use more Microsoft products, it's just generally more efficient if you do.MS's monopoly and what they do with it makes it less expensive for you to use other products of theirs instead of those of competitors. This is called leveraging a monopoly in one market to gain an advantage in another. That's also illegal antitrust abuse. It doesn't have to make it impossible to use something else, just provide incentive competitors can't provide without a monopoly of their own. It kind of undermines the whole benefit of capitalism in the first place because the best product doesn't win the most money.
But that's the case with any market, even kitchen appliances, car parts, and oral hygiene to name a few.And which of the above markets are you claiming is monopolized?
If everyone would just leave Microsoft alone they'll likely destroy themselves - look at Vista.Everyone pretty much has left MS alone. The US claimed they would do something, convicted them, then certain politicians got elected using MS's donations and no punishment was brought to bear. As a result the desktop OS market has stagnated for a decade. Other markets, like Web technology have been stagnant nearly as long and MS keeps taking over more and more markets. Exactly how long should we wait? Do you want them to take over the server OS market before we act? When do you think would be an appropriate time for the laws to be enforced and for us to start have a regular rate of progress again? How many decades should we let MS retard the progress in the computing industry while making obscene profits before we say, "enough" ?!?
How can the Chinese sue over software their whole country pirates!?
"The PRC was never very socialist anyway, most European democracies went much farther down that path"
Really?
Did they organize all farmers into Colletives? Did their government take over virtually all manufacturing enterprises (i.e. state own enterprise) ? Did their Communist Party install representatives in all enterprises to enforce doctrinal purity?
There has been tremendous change in people's thinking and the organization of productive activies within the last 10 years - since Teng Xiao Peng redirected China toward a more pragmatic path.
Listen to people who've visited China and don't rely on academic abstractions. US people have a bipolar attitude toward China. When they spout cliches toward one another, nothing is learnt and they will not gain a realistic picture of China as potential partner or competitor.
I'll guess you're also not running any of their server products (Active Directory, anyone?), or their web development environment (Apache doesn't do ASP, ya know). If everyone would just leave Microsoft alone they'll likely destroy themselves - look at Vista. Well, that sounds all well and good, but Vista seems to have cleaned its act up quite a bit. The truth is, Vista is shaping up to be a decent OS, if you can ignore the graceless and ignorant "because they can" UI changes. I'm not saying it's the best out there, and I'd still rather use Ubuntu, but I'm getting a bit anti-Microsoft in my old age.
What it comes down to is this: Microsoft has the dominating market share, so they really can't lose. In addition, if Microsoft goes under (not likely, but walk down this path with me, if you would), so do all of their operating systems, office products, etc. That anti-piracy activation feature is also a dead-man switch. Don't believe me? Perform your yearly re-installs without any internet, and see how long you can use your system before it requires you to activate it before you can even log in (hint: 30 days).
I'm all for bashing Microsoft, but a little research goes a long way towards increasing one's credibility. Better luck with your FUD next time.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.
The Chinese government should launch an investigation into why their political system is run as a monopoly.
National Socialism
as opposed to universal socialism known as communism.
So when the government controls business, i.e. "nationalizes" or "socializes" it, that is fascism. At least in the original definition.
Except for ending slavery, the Nazis, communism, & securing American independence, war has never solved anything.
He's isn't saying that Fascism and Communism were so opposite they were similar. He is saying that ideologically they weren't too far apart in the positions they espoused.
Except for ending slavery, the Nazis, communism, & securing American independence, war has never solved anything.
From the UK Register article, to bundle in a MS Vista and Office cost a bit over $1000. I don't know the OEM costs in US, Europe, or Africa. Does any one have real data for comparison?
Sure, I automatically forgive the occasional mistake but when it's someone who has quite clearly never finished their English grammar class, why should I then take their political or socio-economic viewpoints seriously?
Gentoo Linux - another day, another USE flag.
If the US economy 'collapses', and I believe it is sliding down a very slippery slope right now, who will China sell stuff to? The US is surely Chinas biggest market, by a long, long way.
I'm in to sadism, bestiality and necrophilia. Am I flogging a dead horse?
Still waiting for China probe of Piratebay.
not only "...will they also look at Microsoft's practice of bundling other software programs within its Windows operating system", but they "'will will' also look at Microsoft's practice..."
China sues Microsoft for exactly the same real reason as US and EU -- Microsoft has tons of money. You know, when you get rich, you'll be followed after by lawyers, tax man, regulators, police or the gangsters.
That should stand on all software boxes.
.... you can of course go out, buy it (even if you know it sucks) then complain and sue ....
If they bundle whatever with windows, it is their business, and the whole EU suing is a ridicule.
Am I a MS fanboy? Not. I do not use Windows (I have one machine with it that I turn on once a month or less for testing software).
Up to2 weeks ago, the only MS product I used was an xbox 360, which naturally died, and was my last ever MS product I purchased. (I love my new PS3 though, so thanks MS to open my eyes).
Yes, for servers it is Linux and BSD, and MAC on desktop.
So No. I do not like, or protect MS, but they should price their product as they like, and they should bundle it with whatever they want.
How comes no one says : hey you have MSN messenger in xbox, and so you are damaging google and AOL( AIM), and ICQ.......
Everyone should have the right to say to a customer : "I hate you, and now your price is 100, even though your neighbour's price is 40."
It is like I sue BMW for having an mp3 player bundled with my car, which is built in, and is a bit problematic to remove.
Stupid world, stupid people. Then again, if you do not like it, just buy something else.
Oh... yes I switched to MAC after Vista came out. One week of usage, and I saw that this was the end of me and MS.
just my 2c
I could list the things that I dislike about China, and then you could refute them as to why they make sense in whatever reason. I will fundamentally disagree with both the reasoning and basic intent of every policy that they have, and you'll call me closed minded. I will explain why it's more closed minded to not think like me. We will come to an impasse. I will then propose a contest, but let me warn you that I have spent the last 3 years building up an immunity to Iocaine powder.
Don't worry, I think that every country is severely fucked up. It's not just China. The world will be a better place when we figure out a workable and decent way to govern ourselves. We're still trying to do that.
Call it a hunch, but as other posters have noted, it seems unlikely that this is genuinely about monopolies.
There's a compatibility, which works perfectly fine. I've been sending it to colleagues for a year now.
Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 File Formatshttp://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=941b3470-3ae9-4aee-8f43-c6bb74cd1466&displaylang=en
By installing the Compatibility Pack in addition to Microsoft Office 2000, Office XP, or Office 2003, you will be able to open, edit, and save files using the file formats new to Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007. The Compatibility Pack can also be used in conjunction with the Microsoft Office Word Viewer 2003, Excel Viewer 2003, and PowerPoint Viewer 2003 to view files saved in these new formats. For more information about the Compatibility Pack, see Knowledge Base article 924074.
For example, the HP 35s calculator i am looking at, costs in the US $50. Over here, it's $120, which means that we are paying $70 more simply because we are not the US.
The same situation exists in Europe.
Part of the investigations is largely because the US is in reciept of large unfair trade advantage (in that they can charge different royalties for different markets). Wonder when the market says enough is enough?
OS/2 - because choice is a terrible thing to waste.
For years the Chinese government has allowed the commercial production of pirated materials for the benefit of party officials of the PRC. This of course is part of the price of cheap production that western companies are fully aware of and have factored into their bottom line. You would be very naive to think that China does not maintain a full catalog of everything that is produced in the country, and after the set production quota is met you think the assembly line shut down. Chinaâ(TM)s antitrust probe/threat wither rumor or fact, is extortion, companies moved production to China for one simple reason, cheap labor, raise the cost of doing business and companies start to look elsewhere. So the cost of doing business in China matrix would look something like thisâ¦. (PRC tax + estimated piracy losses + PRC party liaisons/bribes + extremely cheap labor + transport to market = profit)... So how is this a good thing? As the price of fuel rises, it will become cheaper to move production closer to where the actual legitimate products are being purchased. (Mexico, newest EU member states).
China: Hey will u help us pwn our n000bz so th3y don't get the t1naman n3wz0r?
Microsft: sure! buy our software really cheep and sell it to your students and we'll offer up our NSA and CIA spyware for free!
China: j00 r0xx0r! M$
Microsoft: thanks!
China: w3 su3 y000!
Preliminary reports indicate that he was attempting argue that everyone bashes Microsoft for their practise of bundling their product into computer sales, while other manufacturers do it all the time, without question.
Hold on, folks, . . . yes, We are now receiving word that TheBoll was attemting to use a "car analogy", involving autos, car stereos, air-bags, GPS and brakes, in his failed attempt, and that he didn't realize that none of the manufacturers of those particular products were, themselves, monopolies. This resulted in an apples-to-oranges comparison and failed miserably.
It has also been pointed out that this failure can easily be verified by googling lists of Car manufacturers, radio manufacturers, GPS manufacturers, Air Bag Manufacturers and Brake Manufacturers. It then becomes apparent that, due to the numerous different manufactures for each product type, there can be no monopolies, thus no company has the power to force you to purchase their product.
The sentiment, here on the streets is: "TheBoll, y0u fa1L 1t, you dumb fucking asshole."
Please stay tuned as this story as it develops.
This is Anonymous Coward reporting.
I am at work and dont have time for proper typing, I cut that class and dont spend my days on the keyboard and am in no way skilled at typing. I write in stream of consciousness in case your wondering in order to get it out, dont have time for construct the paragraph properly here at my job.
What you are really trying to say is that I have made some excellent observations (in addition to the OP's) but despite that, your liberal left wing leanings in addition to my grammaticaly challenged verbiage further eroded by my lack of typing skils (since I am at work and dont care and do it fast and in stealth) prevent you from accepting anything I have said.
Whatever, back to your regularly scheduled idiocy!
Unless those documents contain any of the new functionality included with Office 2007. We have deployed 2003 and in a similar situation, while the compatibility pack enables viewing of documents with the 2007 format and adds the format as an option to save to, the function is often broken. I was stumped by a senior manager asking why he received the message the file could not be saved as it is in use, as the workbook in question was not set for simultaneous updates and the file was not opening in read-only. Then I realized he was trying to save as a 'Excel 2007 Workbook', using Office 2003 enterprise + compatibility pack. Just FYI, theres really no denying that Microsoft's practices in this area (and for that matter, Adobe's) are reprehensible.
So the Chinese are saying today that the original story, in the Shanghai Securities News wasn't true. I'm not sure I believe the news report or the government. Does the Chinese government care about creating an open, free economy? It might want to start by weeding out all the counterfeiting going on under its nose. But, it's a little distracted too busy censoring the Internet ...
... when Korea and Japan were also just copying, had no innovation, etc, etc, etc.
Japanese products were synonymous with cheap, bad quality.
Some westerners should have learned a lesson or two from that, like innovation may come where you less expect it, as a matter of fact it may be there but we don't recognize it as such yet.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
You can copy it illegally. If you are going to enter the debate use the correct terminology, it is not by chance that there is a vast body of law dealing with copyright infringement instead of lumping it with common theft.
Back to topic, in China people have been executed for running piracy businesses, so it is not exactly like they are doing nothing about it, but it is nigh impossible to prosecute everybody in a market where a monopoly is selling goods way above a fair price (this creates a black market for counterfitted goods).
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
MS is a monopoly (legally recognized as such).
You saying it isn't will not change the facts.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
One would have a few machines with MS Office accessible for such cases.
Most internal documents could be handled perfectly well with an alternative since they would no be intended for public consumption outside the company.
I have never seen a business collapsing for such an inconsequential thing as word processing formats. When there are issues people do the rational thing: agree to a common format both can work with and move on to important things.
This pseudo argument to scare monger adoption of other products is tired, untrue and irrelevant.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.