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."

Comments

In Other News

[whisper_jeff]

In other news, Russia announced that it was running out of money and would commence looking for new ways to generate funds.

Re:Waiting for bribes

[moon3]

You are right, also, EU fines are not originated by some EU entity, or by EU itself, as it is perceived. Local EU firms ring the bell at EU antitrust commission and want some other firm contested, mostly some big US corporation like Microsoft. Behind every EU antitrust fine is some local firm and their law team.

Re:What about Gazprom?

[hosecoat]

After the EU fine, all other countries can smell a new revenue stream.

Re:This actually sounds reasonable.

[Jamie's Nightmare]

Still, the VHS format died because Sony et. al. made a legitimate case that DVD was a better format.

LOL, yes, I fondly remember the day Sony called me down to their boardroom, sat me down and explained why DVD was a better format than VHS. Seeing a demo of a DVD player running at my local retailer had nothing to do with my purchase.

That has not happened with Vista.

Vista's uptake has been slower because PC sales, the driving factor behind OS purchases, have slowed. Any consumer who upgraded from Windows 98/ME to Windows XP made a signifigant move, in that they were now using an OS based on the NT kernel. That was the big reason to upgrade, but few people did upgrade. Instead, most people purchased new computers with XP already installed. Based on your previous gaff (see above) it's not that you don't understand how products are marketed, you don't understand the underlying forces which drive the market itself.