EU Investigating Microsoft Over IE Bundling Again

vu1986 writes, quoting GigaOm: "Microsoft has confessed to violating its browser choice agreement with European antitrust regulators, after they opened up a fresh investigation into the company's behavior. This is a big deal, not least because it means the company could now face a fine of up to 10 percent of its annual turnover — $7 billion at last count." Microsoft agreed in 2009 to inform users they could install other browsers. They did, mostly, but Windows 7SP1 users didn't get the software update. Microsoft is claiming it was just a software bug, and have taken actions to fix it.

Comments

what about there boot loader lock in

[Joe_Dragon]

what about there boot loader lock in that is even bigger.

Re:what about there boot loader lock in

[Anonymous Coward]

That won't happen

The recently deobfuscated https://joindiaspora.com/posts/1799228 Skype binaries show there's a (US?) Government backdoor.

Apparently security agencies were unhappy that encryption and decentralised super nodes made Skype too hard to intercept. The government made funds/incentives available, and Microsoft bought Skype. Microsoft immediately switched Skye away from the peer-to-peer supernodes and over to servers under the control of Microsoft and their government agency sponsors..

Since the VOIP traffic now goes through Microsoft servers, and Microsoft has the encryption keys, they and their partners can monitor all Skype calls and messages.

Opening the protocols/standards would allow for decentralizing again, which they wouldn't accept.

Re:So they going to fine Apple too?

[Dupple]

It's not the same set of circumstances.

Apple isn't a monopoly and it has not abused a monopoly position, no where near the same market share as microsoft

The choice people have now regarding browsers could be argued is a result of this litigation by the EU. A good over view is here

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Union_Microsoft_competition_case

More specifically here

http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=MEMO/09/15&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en

and here

http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/04/382&format=HTML&aged=1&language=EN&guiLanguage=en

I'm probably gonna get modded Troll or something

A little too late Microsoft

[cpu6502]

" 'we learned recently that weâ(TM)ve missed serving the BCS software to the roughly 28 million PCs running Windows 7 SP1.' Microsoft says it started distributing the BCS software to Windows 7 SP1 machines on 3 July, a couple of business days after discovering the problem."

If the users have already turned-on their new machines, then they are already PAST the browser choice screen. It is pointless to install it after the fact and Microsoft is in violation of the terms of the lawsuit. Furthermore does anyone really believe it was a "mistake"? Last time I told a cop I made a mistake and thought the green left arrow w/ red stoplight meant "go" instead of stop, he just laughed and gave me a ticket. There's really no room to let Microsoft go, else it sets the precedent that criminals can just say "ooops I made a mistake" and be left free to go.

Sanction wouldn't be about the bug

[DragonWriter]

If you fine a company because of a bug in their software this is really not understanding how software development works.

Any sanctions won't be for "a bug in their software". They will be for:
1) Violating the agreement they made in place of the fine for the past violation, and
2) Filing a false declaration of compliance with the agreement in December 2011.

When you have a legal obligation to do something, and when you declare in an official legal document that you have, in fact, done what you had an obligation to do, well, the fact that you didn't do what you had an obligation to do and hadn't actually verified that you had before you made the legal declaration has consequences.