Slashdot Mirror
Russia Launches Anti-trust Probe of Microsoft
NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "Russia's state anti-monopoly service said on Thursday it had launched a probe of Microsoft over cutbacks in supplies of its Windows XP operating system in Russia.
The agency said it thought Microsoft had violated antimonopoly legislation by cutting delivery of Windows XP operating system to Russia both separately and pre-installed on personal computers, as well as in its pricing policy on the product.
It said it would consider the case on July 24, 2009."
When I read the first two words I nearly had a heart attack, since the other launches lately have been NK testing missiles.
In Soviet Russia, Microsoft probes YOU!
... in Russia, Microsoft would launch the probe! /Slashdot has been lying to me....
After so many other countries are getting on the whole anti-monopoly bandwagon, why should Russia be left out of the money?
The Russian state anti-monopoly service is itself a monopoly.
And you cant bring the Parker Brothers game into Russia for fear it might contact the anti-monopoly service, creating a huge explosion.
Talk about Goliath versus Goliath. The successful monopolist versus... the slightly less successful monopolist who can rewrite its own legal system. Time to invest in popcorn.
weirdest thing I ever saw: scientology advertising on slashdot.
we probe you!
A picture is worth exactly 1024 words.
From TFA: ""Analysis of the market for various operating systems shows that the transfer to the new Windows Vista operating system is occurring while demand for the previous operating system, Windows XP, continues," the service said."
Well isn't that special. So Company X is under obligation to indefinitely support product Y as long as there is demand for it? I think not.
While Microsoft obviously engages in a lot of monopolistic practices and I strongly dislike them for this, Russia's reasoning seems rather flawed.
While yes, it sucks that Windows XP is being EOLed for a lot of people because Vista is worse than XP for many users (IMO anyone with less RAM than the 32-bit addressing limit because if there's anything modern that sucks more than Vista, it's 64-bit XP), products getting EOLed is a fact of life. I can't see any reason why EOLing a product would be monopolistic.
Hell, if anything, it would be just the opposite - EOLing a popular product in favor of a less popular product is going to drive people towards the competition.
retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
In other news, Russia announced that it was running out of money and would commence looking for new ways to generate funds.
How ironic. In the US, Microsoft probes YOU!!!! I know, I know... -1 Redundant.
I don't know how to take this news....it looks to me like Russia is saying that it only uses Microsoft products, so they're taking legal action to get more...
"Our goal each year should be to increase the number of goals we set for ourselves!"
In Soviet Microsoft, Russia investigates you!
The society for a thought-free internet welcomes you.
Well, Chutzpah is a word derived from hebrew. The best english equivalent is "audacity", and it comes out as this. You can translate it here and hear what it sounds like.
(Too bad Slashdot will inevitably mess up any attempt at a foreign language. The word comes out like this: "ÑмÐÐоÑÑÑOE")
Random Thoughts From A Diseased Mind (Not For Dummies)
I always thought bundling useful tools with an operating system(i.e. IE) was a poor example of leveraging a monopoly to corner a market. However, discontinuing support for old products to FORCE new ones on customers, that is leveraging a monopoly in an anti-competitive manner. This is a much more reasonable case to take against Microsoft's more shady practices.
So in Russia it's illegal for a company to sell a 10 year old product, even though that product will be 2 versions old this year? If we could make legal demands to sell retired products I'd still be eating Ninja Turtle cereal today.
It's spelled the same way. You just have to reverse/transpose a few consonants.
Skiffy is Spiffy, but Ort is tort.
The word comes out like this: "ÑмÐÐоÑÑÑOE"
It translates it to Swedish?
(Too bad Slashdot will inevitably mess up any attempt at a foreign language. The word comes out like this: "ÑмÐÐоÑÑÑOE")
Based on the timescale of the CSS conversion, we should be looking forward to UTF8 support before 2020. Hopefully, the classic (AKA "working") comments system will be restored as default by then also.
took me all of 10 seconds to find 'allofxpsp3.com'
(starting download now)
--
"It is now safe to switch off your computer."
If you're referring to EU fines...they are absolutely insignificant pocket change for EU budget; they wouldn't even make a difference to most of its individual memberstates.
In this case the amount of money would be similarly insignificant when it comes to contribution to Russian budget. OTOH...there are certianly few individuals who could forget the whole deal for some favours. That's how things work in post-soviet countries.
In anycase, the claims are bogus, almost everybody runs pirated software in Russia.
One that hath name thou can not otter
It appears that the European efforts have triggered a new trend whereby EVERY country a multinational corporation operates in that isn't its native country can start engaging in the MoneyGrab(tm) technique. I mean why let all those euros or rubles leave the country? Why not have companies come in, sell products, and then since you can't tax the hell out of them due to the WTO and the ensuing trade wars, instead just trump up some charges over being too succcessful and "tax" them that way.
Can someone explain to me why this isn't a WTO issue and why these kinds of taxes... I mean fines aren't regulated under the trade agreements?
And don't tell me how they're just trying to stop the evil monopolies. I'm fine with them fining the shit out of Microsoft for bad behavior as long as they're willing to donate 100% of the proceeds to charity. It's not about the behavior, it's about the money.
We didn't know you had interests other than fighting the RIAA?
They should investigate Ford Motor Company for failure to deliver model T on demand from customers.
My mom works at one of the research institutes in Akademgorodok, a major research center near Novosibirsk, she along with hundreds of others have been running pirated windows/office/photoshop/matlab for as long as I can remember. This time it seems the government is serious about the crackdown on illegal software. Each lab director got a direct order to either provide every scientist with lisenses for every piece of software or install linux. Well. they all have been running Ubuntu since yesterday. So far so good.
US-UK-Israel: The real Axis of Evil
The word comes out like this: "ÑмÐÐоÑÑÑOE"
you could at least clean it up: (3/16) Ñ^4 Ð^4 O E
Always back up, never back down. ---- Think you're cool 'cos your uid is prime? Take mine, modulo the one digit integers
What problems are people having with the Comments Beta system? I'm running Firefox 3, NoScript + AdBlock (which slashdot.org and fsdn.com whitelisted) and I find it quite nice to have dynamically expanding messages and responses. Is this a problem on some browsers or configurations?
$_ = "wftedskaebjgdpjgidbsmnjgcdwatb"; tr/a-z/oh, turtleneck Phrase Jar!/; print
If I were MSFT, I'd be worried about the weak rule of law in Russia. It is highly likely that there is pre-determined outcome in the mind of the Russian officials running this case and any 'investigation' will be a show trial leading to that pre-determined outcome.
I have visited Russia many times. Might makes right. It is a system that breathes on graft and corruption.
in the entire Russian Federation. They are owned by six Microsoft consultants currently traveling in Russia.
I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed or numbered. My life is my own.
Apparently in Russia, people have a right to an operating system, but no rights to life, liberty, or pursuit of happiness.
In keeping with the Russion government's SOP, Bill Gates will be arrested and Microsoft will become the Russian state's property.
So in Russia it's illegal for a company to sell a 10 year old product, even though that product will be 2 versions old this year? If we could make legal demands to sell retired products I'd still be eating Ninja Turtle cereal [flickr.com] today.
What, Fruity pebbles isn't good enough for you? What are you, a communist?
"All great wisdom is contained in .signature files"
It's pretty poor as soon as you try anything mobile.
When it was classic comments, I could view them however I wanted. Now, I get about 12 comments per story, a further 20 abbreviated (WTF?).
I emailed and got a nice response from Taco himself, along the lines of 'it's on the to-do pile, we're aware of it'. Circa 18 months ago. I think the new comments system is cool, just not for displaying comments. And definately not for mobile class devices.
Exactly! Why are so many people bitching about "oooo, there's no alternatives! We need XP still!" If people don't wanna spend to upgrade, move to the FOSS side. It's not hard, people!
Canada: The US's more awesome sibling.
This is just too beautiful.
Ray Beckerman +5 Insightful
XP is a 9 year old OS. Even auto makers are only required to support the parts for their cars for 7 years
In the US and Europe, automobiles are heavily regulated to meet certain standards, and software is not. If a 9 year old car is many times safer, more reliable, more fuel efficient, much better looking, and more easily fixed than the 2 year old car coming from the factory now, and the new car is just a total dog, and if community outrage was so high that people would only want to buy the old car, and this was the only auto maker available to buy cars from then damn straight the community would be in the moral right to demand that company continue to support the old car model until the choice of a car that was as good or better came along.
Microsoft is a convicted monopolist both in the US and Europe. If there was more competition, and Vista was a dog, people could turn to another company for better service. But they can't. They turn back to Microsoft and demand XP. They are, allegedly, trying to control the supply channel by strangling supplies of XP and hoping this will force demand to Vista, which will make Vista look better as sales go up. They have an image problem with Vista and they are using their monopoly power to try to fix it. If this was a competitive market and Linus and Mac OS had 33% each, We could just switch to one of them and Microsoft would have to compete.
Once you are a monopoly, 99% of the business book is thrown out the window. Everything comes down to, "when you take an action as a monopolistic company, are you abusing your market dominance and reducing choice for the consumer?" A car maker to tried to do this without monopolistic power would shoot themselves in the foot for cancelling a profitable product line just because they want to sell more of another. The American automakers did just this, by trying to sell more trucks and SUVs when the future trend was towards smaller fuel efficient cars. Now GM and Chrysler are on life support, and Hyundai is making out like a bandit. Competition would have done that to Microsoft to, but there is none, so they have to follow different rules. If they don't follow those rules, any and all governments need to slap their greedy hands.
"All great wisdom is contained in .signature files"
Yiddish, actually.
A better equvialent is "nervy gall".
Chutzpah is when you murder your parents, and then throw yourself on the mercy of the court because you're an orphan.
Fascism starts when the efficiency of the government becomes more important than the rights of the people.
I was hoping for some neat graphs from that, but Wolfram failed me: http://www41.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=(3%2F16)+%C3%91^4+%C3%90^4+O+E
Every time I start to have faith in humanity, I ruin it by driving to work between 7 and 8 am.
I apparently failed myself. Damn you URL encoding!
Every time I start to have faith in humanity, I ruin it by driving to work between 7 and 8 am.
There's only I've place where I've seen more IP violations that China, and that is Russia. Heck, most of the copied DVDs sold in China COME from Russia!
Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
Amazing how people's attitude towards Free software changes once they learn the true cost of opening pictures with Photoshop and typing memos with MS Office. I do wish people came to Linux voluntarily but after 20 years of unrestrained piracy only threat of heavy fines can make people give up what they have come to believe is rightfully theirs.
US-UK-Israel: The real Axis of Evil
"Chutzpah" is better translated as "naglost'", definitely not "smelost'" ("bravery").
System Operates YOU!!
~kulakovich
The agency said it thought Microsoft had violated antimonopoly legislation by cutting delivery of Windows XP operating system to Russia both separately and pre-installed on personal computers
So kind of like when an icecream-shop gets shut down by an anti-icecream-law for not selling enough icecream?
In soviet Russia Windows XP shuts...ah hell...can't figure out this one...
Yiddish, actually.
A better equvialent is "nervy gall".
Chutzpah is when you murder your parents, and then throw yourself on the mercy of the court because you're an orphan.
Or when you're a politician and are therefore also a lawyer so you know god damned well what the Constitution says, and you vote for unconstitutional laws anyway. After all, when some poor schlub finds himself on the wrong end of the overwhelming police power of the state and is convicted by your bad law, pays many thousands of dollars defending himself, and finally after an appeal or two during which he wonders if he will ever see his family again or if Bubba will leave him alone in jail, finally the law is struck down as unconstitutional. Yet, for some reason, the politicians who supported that law are not punished in any way. Fancy that.
Now THAT is chutzpah!
Umm... Give us free cookies or you are a monopoly. That's rich coming from a country in which most top government officials hold positions in the monopoly energy concern of the said country. The cynicism of this move is just unbelievable. Ever since they managed to confuse the world enough to think that Georgia attacked them, they must think that the whole he-said-she-said they manufacture is enough to get their way in anything they want.
Any guest worker system is indistinguishable from indentured servitude.
Microsoft has enjoyed abusing it's power and not it's on the receiving end of governments abusing their power. They deserve this.
Microsoft will just have to bribe some rusky official and this will all go away. Sure they will make some noise to make it all seem legit, but in the end this will get resolved in a back room with a nice fat check.
mod parent up. that's definitely the most accurate translation.
Any guest worker system is indistinguishable from indentured servitude.
probe (or, probiscus) up ms' derrier (or, dirty rear), the anti-trust court can say, Ben-dova, BAYBEE... This is From Russia, with LOVE..." And, to modivy some Bond, add, "For YOUR thighs ONLY"...
Previously: "Linux... Toward the Sunrise..." Now: "Linux... Toward the-- No, now, part of Every Sunrise"
what about the predetermined result of installing Msuck Windoze:
you are not secure, you will get worms. You will get viruses.
They will f you when they can.
At least the Russians have their own interests at heart.
The Msuck people are just greed-heads, they don't care about
anyone but themselves.
Let Balmer move the whole damn company offshore.
The bottom of the ocean is a fitting place for Msuck Windoze.
A former-communist country saying that Microsoft violates anti-trust laws is very interesting.
However, Vista sucks big time in the few installations I have and I understand why most people hate, including entire countries like Russia.
Vista also by most accounts I have read here takes beefier hardware. Perhaps the Russian authorities are looking out for their citizens who might not have as much cash to throw at newer/more expensive hardware as western Europeans and folks in the US, etc.
Vista might be more difficult to pirate..perhaps..just something to consider given the rumors about what most Russians are running, which is mostly peg legged softwarez...that is all total speculation on my part though,. just what I have read, and mostly here BTW
Then there is just the "some fatcats are looking for some cash payoffs" angle, a shakedown routine, because they know MS has some spare cash laying around
Besides, computer literacy is IMHO very low in CIS countries because of piracy. Sure, everybody has the latest and the most expensive software available, but that's it. People don't look for alternatives especially if these are free which is perceived as low quality.
So we have a great number of people who have XP Professional Corporate Edition, use Photoshop solely for red-eye-reduction, type notes in MS-Word but don't know how to insert a page break (these people are the loudest to bitch about OOo if they are forced to use it). Hell, I've seen scientific papers written in MS-Word with formulas written down by hand because no one knows about LaTeX!
The last time I checked, MatLab was as expensive on Linux as Windows. Did they have to buy MatLab licenses, or did they convert to Octave or some other alternative? I imagine MS Office -> Open Office & Photoshop -> Gimp without too much grumbling, but the FOSS analogues of MatLab are acceptable only if you're using just the basics. I'm genuinely curious, not trying to insult Octave, et. al.
- T
Akademgorodok
That sounds like a derogatory term for an academic.
"Hi. I'm a software engineer" // "And I'm an academ-goro-dork"
(No offense to anyone at Akademgorodok)
Let's all denounce KKKapitalism! Even the russkies get it. Just nationalize Microsoft, vote to make Windows XP the People's OS and enjoy the glorious World of Next Tuesday(TM).
Whoever Wins....We Lose.
Huh?
Government has power over Corporations.
It's "Academy [of Sciences] town" in Russian.
Contrary to the popular belief, there indeed is no God.
Russia -- "Das Vadanya Microsloht... Ve don't vant your DRM shite."
MS -- "We'll be back!"
Russia -- "Retarget da misssiles un Redmond nd release za dogs. V has vays sof yetting vhat ve vant."
Let's face it if Windows was pirate proof Linux would be everywhere.
Yeah... Russia is actually moving towards Linux. Most schools have already switched.
Sony don't keep their VHS patents and if someone else wants to make one, it will be made.
Now you try making your own Windows XP.
Can't because you don't have the software.
Can't get the software because it's copyrighted.
MS won't let go of the copyright for WHAT reason? They aren't selling XP any more. They won't support XP without an expensive contract any more. What do they need the copyright for, then?
And COPYRIGHT is a monopoly. A government granted one at that.
Except it isn't 100% compatible, is it. So some programs won't run.
So it isn't a replacement for XP, is it.
Nor is any other OS.
Why? Because the source code is kept secret and therefore how XP works is secret and nobody else can copy it to replace it.
Whereas my dishwasher will wash my dishes just as well as your dishwasher, even though they are from completely different manufacturers. They both take the water pipe fittings that we have in common, take the same detergent and exhaust through the same pipe fittings too. The electricity socket doesn't have to change to accommodate the new dishwasher and the new dishwasher will accept the same dishes and I do not therefore have to upgrade my dishes to a compatible dish.
This is not the same as the OS.
And MS STILL has the copyrights.
WHY???
Who do I root for on this one?