I agree re "its nice to get bundled software", but strongly disagree with your remark re "its anticompetitive...to detect competing software and prevent it running...". As we all know MS has displayed false error messages and the action was illegal. However their anticompetitive behaviour goes beyond just this.
For example:
* License agreements with OEM's that require them to pay MS a license per system sold and not per system installed with MS-Windows. i.e. The OEM has no incentive to sell OS-free systems since they pay MS regardless.
* Buying competitors in order to kill off their software and increase the prices on their own products.
* Hijacking standards (Java) with their own (windows only) extensions
The list goes on.
IIRC The anti-trust acts insist that if a company has been found to behave anti-competitively (as MS have), then all their actions, **including** legal ones, must be considered.
I sincerely hope that MS is brought to heel and lose their mantra of "might is right". If MS's share fell to a level where competition is present, then all consumers will benefit and MS will actually start building better products.
IIRC from an article by 'ElReg, the penalty the EU crafted deliberately avoided telling MS how much WinXP-N should cost. Instead they choose the more subtle valuation of it being at a cost that did not make it economically or technically un-viable.
Bo knew exactly the type of stunts MS would pull, e.g. XP-N costing more, running slower, breaking compatibility etc, so he let MS choose a price that they expect a media-less version to be worth.
The sting here, is that if XP-N is not being used, assuming this is not due to a technical issue (which by itself would mean MS has not complied with the court order), then it's lack of take up must be due to MS valuing WMP too low. e.g. If the cost of WinXP-N equals WinXP then WMP must have a value of 0. To demostrate they choose an appropriate value, MS will have to drop the cost of XP-N until there is at least some takeup.
In my view, the EU should haul MS back to court for non-compliance of their order. Although I note the EU may be choosing to hold off doing this until they resolve other issues with MS.
MS are the master at this sort of thing (agreements they pay lipservice to, knowing there are many other ways to skin a cat).
Note that their WinOS-WMP version will only be offered in the EU, e.g. they've estimated they can still tip the market to WMP with the rest of the market plus those in the EU who want the WinOS+WMP version.
I think MS will simply make an open standard friendlier version _ONLY_ available to MA government while continuing to encourage (read push) their own proprietary format there.
I doubt whether the MS/MA agreement actively excludes the option of reading/writing MS-Word.doc formats.
Just think of the number of times you've seen "Warning: You are saving this in a format which may not support all the formatting you've entered. Are you sure? Enter Y to possibly lose data, N to save it in [our] standard format (recommended)."
MA government may have the option to save their docs in an Open format, but MS are certain to make it an undesirable option.
As far as the producers are concerned, it is Secure (unless someone cracks it).
We can expect more use of this second party termonology as controls are added to a multitude of things, e.g. DRM.
The point about proprietary formats, is "at what point does a format become a (de-facto) standard"!
Initially MS (and others) provided import/export filters, hence it was possible to edit a document virtually irrespective of the original product used to create it. Once a threashold in terms of market share was reached, then compatibility with other products was quickly dropped.
Lets face it, on the desktop, MS exploits its customers by levering its document formats. The migration from MS is not a fallout of poor quality office software.
The sooner more customers stop themselves from being exploited, then the sooner MS will be forced to compete fairly or be forced from the office market.
One day MS will either be forced once again to share standards, or if it doesn't, its own incompatible formats will work against it.
MS has plenty of options for the long term:
* Share standards and play ball with competitors
* Create a Linux varient of Office
* Stop screwing the customers
Until MS is forced below its "de-facto standard" threashold, it will never take one of these options.
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For example: * License agreements with OEM's that require them to pay MS a license per system sold and not per system installed with MS-Windows. i.e. The OEM has no incentive to sell OS-free systems since they pay MS regardless.
* Buying competitors in order to kill off their software and increase the prices on their own products.
* Hijacking standards (Java) with their own (windows only) extensions
The list goes on.
IIRC The anti-trust acts insist that if a company has been found to behave anti-competitively (as MS have), then all their actions, **including** legal ones, must be considered.
I sincerely hope that MS is brought to heel and lose their mantra of "might is right". If MS's share fell to a level where competition is present, then all consumers will benefit and MS will actually start building better products.
Best
Bo knew exactly the type of stunts MS would pull, e.g. XP-N costing more, running slower, breaking compatibility etc, so he let MS choose a price that they expect a media-less version to be worth.
The sting here, is that if XP-N is not being used, assuming this is not due to a technical issue (which by itself would mean MS has not complied with the court order), then it's lack of take up must be due to MS valuing WMP too low. e.g. If the cost of WinXP-N equals WinXP then WMP must have a value of 0. To demostrate they choose an appropriate value, MS will have to drop the cost of XP-N until there is at least some takeup.
In my view, the EU should haul MS back to court for non-compliance of their order. Although I note the EU may be choosing to hold off doing this until they resolve other issues with MS.
Note that their WinOS-WMP version will only be offered in the EU, e.g. they've estimated they can still tip the market to WMP with the rest of the market plus those in the EU who want the WinOS+WMP version.
I think MS will simply make an open standard friendlier version _ONLY_ available to MA government while continuing to encourage (read push) their own proprietary format there. I doubt whether the MS/MA agreement actively excludes the option of reading/writing MS-Word.doc formats.
Just think of the number of times you've seen "Warning: You are saving this in a format which may not support all the formatting you've entered. Are you sure? Enter Y to possibly lose data, N to save it in [our] standard format (recommended)."
MA government may have the option to save their docs in an Open format, but MS are certain to make it an undesirable option.
All they need to do is just stop doing any business in the EU.
After all whats 30% of the global market to a company with $50B and a home market unable to redress the balance.
As far as the producers are concerned, it is Secure (unless someone cracks it). We can expect more use of this second party termonology as controls are added to a multitude of things, e.g. DRM.
Initially MS (and others) provided import/export filters, hence it was possible to edit a document virtually irrespective of the original product used to create it. Once a threashold in terms of market share was reached, then compatibility with other products was quickly dropped.
Lets face it, on the desktop, MS exploits its customers by levering its document formats. The migration from MS is not a fallout of poor quality office software. The sooner more customers stop themselves from being exploited, then the sooner MS will be forced to compete fairly or be forced from the office market.
One day MS will either be forced once again to share standards, or if it doesn't, its own incompatible formats will work against it.
MS has plenty of options for the long term:
* Share standards and play ball with competitors
* Create a Linux varient of Office
* Stop screwing the customers
Until MS is forced below its "de-facto standard" threashold, it will never take one of these options.