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Microsoft's Role As Accuser In the Antitrust Suit Against Google
HughPickens.com writes Danny Hakim reports at the NYT that as European antitrust regulators formally accuse Google of abusing its dominance, Microsoft is relishing playing a behind-the-scenes role of scold instead of victim. Microsoft has founded or funded a cottage industry of splinter groups to go after Google. The most prominent, the Initiative for a Competitive Online Marketplace, or Icomp, has waged a relentless public relations campaign promoting grievances against Google. It conducted a study that suggested changes made by Google to appease regulators were largely window dressing. "Microsoft is doing its best to create problems for Google," says Manfred Weber, the chairman of the European People's Party, the center-right party that is the largest voting bloc in the European Parliament. "It's interesting. Ten years ago Microsoft was a big and strong company. Now they are the underdog."
According to Hakim, Microsoft and Google are the Cain and Abel of American technology, locked in the kind of struggle that often takes place when a new giant threatens an older one. Microsoft was frustrated after American regulators at the Federal Trade Commission didn't act on a similar antitrust investigation against Google in 2013, calling it a "missed opportunity." It has taken the fight to the state level, along with a number of other opponents of Google. Microsoft alleges that Google's anti-competitive practices include stopping Bing from indexing content on Google-owned YouTube; blocking Microsoft Windows smartphones from "operating properly" with YouTube; blocking access to content owned by book publishers; and limiting the flow of ad campaign information back to advertisers, making it more expensive to run ads with rivals. "Over the past year, a growing number of advertisers, publishers, and consumers have expressed to us their concerns about the search market in Europe," says Brad Smith, Microsoft's general counsel. "They've urged us to share our knowledge of the search market with competition officials."
According to Hakim, Microsoft and Google are the Cain and Abel of American technology, locked in the kind of struggle that often takes place when a new giant threatens an older one. Microsoft was frustrated after American regulators at the Federal Trade Commission didn't act on a similar antitrust investigation against Google in 2013, calling it a "missed opportunity." It has taken the fight to the state level, along with a number of other opponents of Google. Microsoft alleges that Google's anti-competitive practices include stopping Bing from indexing content on Google-owned YouTube; blocking Microsoft Windows smartphones from "operating properly" with YouTube; blocking access to content owned by book publishers; and limiting the flow of ad campaign information back to advertisers, making it more expensive to run ads with rivals. "Over the past year, a growing number of advertisers, publishers, and consumers have expressed to us their concerns about the search market in Europe," says Brad Smith, Microsoft's general counsel. "They've urged us to share our knowledge of the search market with competition officials."
Fact of the day: "Satan" is the Hebrew word for "accuser".
How can I believe you when you tell me what I don't want to hear?
The EU has found the deep financial pockets of our American Tech companies located in Silicon Valley California and they want a piece of that financial pie. There must be at least a few people in the EU government who believe that excellence must be eliminated at all costs. How dare these Americans work hard and become successful. Don't they know that the government is suppose to control everything.
The EU has already siphoned off billions of dollars in fines that should have been used by American companies to create jobs, develop new technology and further their business models. Like one analysis said: "Google must follow the rules and do business the way business is done in each area of the globe". To that I say bull. Its my understand and by the EU's own admission, Google has not violated the law. This has nothing to do with the legal requirements or any specific violation of the law.Its about the EU needing the money and it knows where to go get some. And they are going to go get some from "we the people" of the United States of America.
This constant EU siphoning off of money earned by American companies is going to end up really hurting European and U.S. relations mark my words. Once the American people realized that they are becoming unemployed and living on government handouts so someone in the EU can have free health care; watch attitudes change. This is a direct frontal attack on American business and the employees of those companies. There must be someone out there that realizes that at least a few hundred of the recent Microsoft layoffs were because of the EU fines. After all, a couple of billion dollars pays lots of salaries don't you think? And I will bet you a good steak dinner WHEN Google gets finished paying their fines; they will also be laying off a few hundred of their workers unless I am unaware of some new magical way to pay salaries.
Maybe its time for the United States to go after a few EU companies doing business in our country. We can certainly use the same principle of - we don't like the way you do business. Forget the law. That would be fair don't you think? Maybe its time for the U.S. to stop paying for the defense of the EU? Maybe it time we stop spilling American blood to pay for someone's socialists government. Maybe its time to begin lobbying our American government to implement trade sanctions until we can recover what our American companies have paid in fines because someone doesn't like the way we do business. That's fair don't you think?
Or do you just want to roll over like a bunch of sheep and turn your back on these creative tech companies like Microsoft, Google and others who provide thousands and thousands of jobs. Maybe no one cares and we will all just end up working at a Walmart for $12/hour. That's also fair don't you think?
Its my hope that this EU trend of penalizing American business is quickly eliminated. There are significant cultural differences between many of the EU countries and the US. To the average American this is a PERSONAL attack against "we the people", their families and the jobs these companies provide. It is highly unlikely that the American people will stand by and do nothing while their jobs are being eliminated. The EU may view their action as against a giant corporation. To each American it is far more personal than that, its their job and food for their families.
Now to play the neutral bad guy, at least in both parties eyes. Targeted advertisements, this is what the fight is about, who controls the scam and who makes the most money from it.
Consider this, legal responsibility for targeted adds. Consider you are a type 2 new on the market diabetic and they target you with high sugar content foods, what is their legal liability for purposefully doing and endangering your life, keeping in mind they are either trying to manipulate you into harming yourself or they are claiming advertising does not work.
So who do you blame for obesity, McDonald or the people who promote McDonald and target their ads at people who they also target with dieting ads. They really did open up a whole new can of worms with targeted advertisements, purposefully designed messages to manipulate your choices against your interests to generate income regardless of harm.
Honestly show a sugar rich junk food commercial to a person on record suffering from type 2 diabetes and you should go to jail because you intent is to psychologically manipulate their choices to the point of self harm because GREED.
So M$ or Google, meh, both just as fucking evil as each other. I just preferred the kernel under Android ;).
Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
Oh, please, pot meet kettle:
Google has only been acting really evil in the last few years; for M$, Oracle, and many other companies, doing evil is corporate policy and they have *NEVER* STOPPED being evil. To put it another way, Oracle is the Monsanto of software, M$ is the DuPont of software, and Google is more like factory farms, doing both good and evil at the same time. (I freely admit the Google comparison is weak--please feel free to come up with a better one.)
I have no problem with Google being investigated, but they should go after M$ as well, especially with what they did to Nokia, Linux, and Android; fat chance that'll happen, though.
Rubbish, Elop, ex-Microsoft exec, right from the start did Nokia in. He ran the existing product line (the MOST POPULAR Smarphone OS) into the ground first, then opted for Microsofts OS, which WAS FAR WORSE, had far less market share and no app base.
No big surprise that the Microsoft phone didn't sell. Having gutted Nokia, he then sold it at a knock down price to Microsoft, AND MICROSOFT PAID HIM A BIG BONUS.
Yeh, its right there, Microsoft paid him the $25 million bonus for the merger. Nokia didn't do it to itself, Elop did it. Every step acting against Nokias interests and for Microsofts interests.
Companies should beware of hiring Microsoft employees, they may have loyalties to their former bosses and expect a big payoff for destruction like Elop received.
"Microsoft alleges that Google's anti-competitive practices include stopping Bing from indexing content on Google-owned YouTube; blocking Microsoft Windows smartphones from "operating properly" with YouTube"
You mean Google won't allow Microsoft to scrape content, like for example they do with Wikipedia. some time ago Microsoft was even caught scraping Google search results and 'incorperating' it into Bing. Google: Bing Is Cheating, Copying Our Search Results
google needs to be reigned in and bought to heel on issues where it's power is too complete
i'm glad someone is doing it. i don't really care if microsoft is along for the ride or not, and it doesn't really matter
Why? I'm being serious here. What's the justification for reigning in google? In Microsoft's case it's obvious how much karma is has burned through and why it needed to be reigned in . Here's the link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C....
But what has Google done that was so bad it needs similar treatment? Has it forced anyone to use GoogleOS? Has it forced anyone to use only its browser? Has it forced anyone to use proprietary formats that are patent encumbered and cannot be fully implemented by anyone else? What has it done?
From where I sit all I see is a company that has provided me:
So I'm honestly asking again, what exactly has Google done that was so bad? Who has been hurt by its actions?