Slashdot Mirror
EU Antitrust Troubles Continue For Microsoft
Julie188 writes "Opera Software's year-old antitrust complaint against Microsoft took another step toward being vindicated, and the Oslo-based browser maker can't help crowing over the European Commission's decision. Opera had filed a complaint with the EC in December, 2007, contending that Microsoft's bundling of Internet Explorer with Windows violated antitrust rules. Yesterday, the EC sent a 'Statement of Objections (SO)' to Microsoft with a preliminary finding that bundling IE with Windows does indeed constitute an antitrust abuse. Microsoft has eight weeks to plead its case and change the EC's mind, an unlikely outcome if ever there was one. Opera's CEO said, 'On behalf of all Internet users, we commend the Commission for taking the next step towards restoring competition in a market that Microsoft has strangled for more than a decade.'"
Also (I understand WHY they could consider this an anti-trust issue) but at what point does something become core functionality of an OS? Internet accessibility is vital to personal computing, so it seems reasonable for them to bundle something that helps make the vast majority of that content reachable.
Really? Here's a question for whatever 80 year old, possibly Amish, European dumbass thought that one up. If Windows doesn't come with a web browser, how do you get one? You just go download firefox...ohhhhh wait, you can't go download it because there's no browser. You don't see audio editors going out of business just because Sound Editor has been included with Windows for like 15 years. And I don't think Adobe is very worried about Photoshop getting trampled by MS Paint. There's a reason CNN doesn't just use Windows Movie Maker for their field editing too. This is just idiotic.
Google's Super Secret Search Algorithm: SELECT @search_results FROM internet WHERE @search_results = 'good'
Yes, the Microsoft antitrust case is fucking retarded. The EU is simply socialist. Now I want to ask a serious question. Why is it that people hate success? Hatred of the rich is what this ultimately boils down to.
This is EU anti-Americanism bullshit at its best.
Is there any doubt that a HTML viewer is a standard component in *any* modern OS intended for customer use? The worst thing Microsoft did in this arena is beat the curve and made it a standard component of their OS before everybody else did.
Here's the flamebait part, mod accordingly: I'm sorry that the EU was woefully unprepared for the computer revolution, and has no OS or major software makers to call its own. But that was their strategic decision, and they'll just have to freakin' cope with it. Microsoft is big in the EU, because no local company was meeting their software needs.
But hey, we're all upset we have no local OS company! Let's sue MS over and over again for moronic things!! And we have hardly any local credit processing companies, let's sue VISA and Mastercard!
Is this seriously what the EU is for? It's pathetic and ridiculous.
Comment of the year
Don't argue. These people are just idiots. Seriously, what does it gain end-users to uninstall IE? I don't get it... "Uhh, durr, I want to uninstall explorer.exe kernel32.dll! Why can't I? MONOPOLY!!!!". They've basically become a parody of themselves.
That's what I don't get. You fuckers actually sit here and debate how Microsoft should design and sell their OS. It's just completely unreal to me.
First, Microsoft does not have a monopoly. You can not have a monopoly in a market with free alternatives _or_ over something which is intellectual property. You can be excused for not knowing this, most people including many legislators and judges aren't smart enough to figure this out.
Second, an operating system includes a browser. To argue otherwise is rank stupidity. So claiming you can't exercise a "monopoly" (see above) in the operating system to create dominance in a component of the operating system is unarguably wrong. The implications of MS releasing an operating system without a browser would be that their product would suck. It would be unsupportable. It wouldn't compete with other OS's that _do_ include a browser.
I know, you'll trot out the tired "but OEMs would add a browser!" argument. The fact is the existence or non-existence of OEMs is irrelevent. Microsoft sells a product, and they support it. If a third party elects to sit between Microsoft and their customers that has nothing to do with anything. People do also just buy the OS off the shelf.
No. This is just a stupid argument by a loser company. The OEMs are free to include other browsers on their machines. More and more people are electing to use Firefox anyway. Opera has lost because Firefox is a better product.
Seriously? Is trying out other browsers such a life-altering experience that we need to shake the unwashed masses out of their stupor and force them to download FF or Opera? People who care about which browser they use and how fast it, I don't know, parses Javascript or whatever, know how to get them already. People who don't care about which browser they use will not be helped by this, just inconvenienced.
I think you're most bothered by the fact that most people really, genuinely don't, and will never care about "trying alternative products," when it comes to personal computing. If you think that makes them stupid, or inferior somehow, that's your own elitist attitude's fault. If you think that their apathy is somehow *caused* by Microsoft, then I've got a whole line of hats (made of tinfoil) for you to browse.
This issue is all about Opera wanting more money and more market share, so they're abusing the EU's laws to hurt one of their competitors. They don't want *more* competition - they want less! How come patent-trolls are so reviled, yet anti-trust-trolls are revered?