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- inactive, on 02/27/2008, -25/+177That will strike fear into many corporations... apple as well concerning how they lock their products. I like how EU, especially Scandinavian countries push for open source.
- TheOneTrueGod, on 02/27/2008, -9/+119'"As we demonstrated last week with our new interoperability principles and specific actions to increase the openness of our products, we are focusing on steps that will improve things for the future," Microsoft said.'
No, you are focusing on steps that will comply with the law. - blankuser, on 02/27/2008, -5/+86That is a record fine for the EU. No company in the EU has been fined so much.
- McDutchie, on 02/27/2008, -7/+81No, they are focusing on steps that will fool the EU into believing they comply with the law. Unfortunately for them, so far the EU antitrust authorities have not been as easy to fool as the US ones.
- noots, on 02/27/2008, -3/+68is that sarcasm? iTunes/iPod?
- freediverx, on 02/27/2008, -6/+63Unfortunately for them, so far the EU antitrust authorities have not been as easy to BRIBE as the US ones.
- bassman730, on 02/27/2008, -10/+57At least that $1.4bn isn't in Euros
- atticus8, on 02/27/2008, -11/+58Microsoft was so used to getting slapped on the wrist and then just waiting it out until the politicians caved in America, they thought it could work again in Europe. They were mistaken.
Having worked in the antitrust business before, it is depressing that we so often have to look to the European Commission to expose the collusion of some of these unscrupulous international corporations and conglomerates, even some that are based in the United States. There is no mystery why they have been recently finding more illegal, cartel-like behavior than the U.S.: they look! They are actively looking for suspicious behavior, unlike in the U.S., where big business has gotten a pass for AT LEAST the last seven years by "the MBA President"'s administration. And it wasn't all roses and candies before that, either. - viggooo, on 02/27/2008, -18/+64So far, Microsoft has found it best not to follow the laws in the EU, and rather pay fines. That means Microsoft still makes too much money using illegal practices.
Sadly, in the mean time, end users have to work with overpriced and incompatible software. - NaziHatinChimp, on 02/27/2008, -3/+47We have those laws in America, we just don't care anymore. Look at the telecoms.
- DarthVox, on 02/27/2008, -12/+50If Apple was in the place of Microsoft I dont think people would be so happy...
- rnolds, on 02/27/2008, -9/+47Should Apple also be fined for bundling iTunes for free with macs?
- quenturi, on 02/27/2008, -0/+37They did fine Microsoft in Euros : 899 million €. $1.4 bn is just to make sure Microsoft get the picture right.
- MacSuxWindozSux, on 02/27/2008, -13/+48Microsoft absolutely uses anti-competitive behavior. They screw people over with their lock-ins and non-standards compliance.
On the other hand, the anti-trust fines, and law suits have gone a long way to destroy the company. They don't innovate / lockin on the same level as Apple largely due to fear of being sued or fined. Many times you might ask yourself, why don't they just do this or that? And often it's because they simply can't.
Even Vista had it's kernel unlocked so Anti-Virus companies wouldn't make the EU issue more fines. Yet people complain that it's still insecure. In a lot of ways it's a case of it being their operating system and they can't even do what they want with it. They were nearly broken in half because they included a web browser in their OS. Everyone else does this. They have to ship special versions of Windows without a media player, while everyone else gets to put a media player in their OS.
SOME of these things they are being fined for are things that their competition freely does.
Yeah MS does a lot of real ***** stuff. But there is in some ways a double standard here. - EarlOfLade, on 02/27/2008, -6/+37They can arrest and imprison all the local honchos, seize all assets and close down EU operations. It will be a huge problem for Microsoft.
Remember thuis part from the article:
"Microsoft was the first company in 50 years of EU competition policy that the Commission has had to fine for failure to comply with an antitrust decision," Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes said in a statement."
Of course it had to be MS and a US company that thinks it can do what the ***** it wants. Message to MS: "You are in EU, which is not a corrupt corporative hellhole where you can steal, lie and cheat without consequences like in the US!" - inactive, on 02/27/2008, -14/+43I can't believe some people are actually complaining that the European Commission is fining Microsoft.
Right, instead they should charge Microsoft guilty and proceed by not applying any sanction or fine, just like in the United States. That'll teach them ! - chris9902, on 02/27/2008, -3/+32they will. They won't be able to trade if they don't follow the law.
- misconstrued, on 02/27/2008, -4/+31Apple could be in a similar place in the EU if they don't open up the iPod.
- InferiorWang, on 02/27/2008, -0/+25We are a technically-minded minority here on digg. After selling mp3 players at my seasonal job this last holiday season, I can tell you most people don't know the difference between different online music retailers and don't care. Most people just want everything to happen with the least amount of effort. So they get an iPod and use iTunes. Later, they come back for a cheap mp3 player for the wife/kids/etc and are irritated to find out that the music they downloaded from iTunes isn't in mp3 format and if they get a cheap mp3 player, not only is much of their music worthless for the other player, but they have to go get music from another place. Often, they end up getting another iPod whether that is what they really wanted or not. iPods are the antithesis of free choice in the current mp3 player market.
- Myztry, on 02/27/2008, -2/+27$1.4 Billion is a LOT of money. But in relation to the wealth Microsoft has acquired from these means, it's kind of trivial.
Sort of reminds me of Dr. Evil declaring $1 MILLION DOLLARS ransom against the world, and everyone just stares bemused for $1 million dollars was no longer some impossible amount of money...
If you had $34,000 dollars in the bank, and received a $1,400 fine, you'd be pissed, but hardly devastated. - antivirus88, on 02/27/2008, -2/+25Don't fool yourself. $1.4 billion isn't chump change for ANYONE.
- inactive, on 02/27/2008, -8/+29I love how everyone complains about MS monopoly but whenever someone has the balls to do something about it, most people, especially Americans complain about it and view it as an attack against "America".
- dsmx, on 02/27/2008, -1/+21add a 1 and two 0's on the front of that fine and microsoft might actually change there ways.
- mvent2, on 02/27/2008, -4/+23Yeah! Stop selling your product to the world's biggest market!
Doesn't matter anyway. Europe is where Linux and other OSS has the highest usage and growing the fastest. - wyrdness, on 02/27/2008, -4/+22As a European, I wish that Microsoft would cut off this part of the market too. It would greatly increase the market share of Linux and OS X, which would be a Very Good Thing.
- inactive, on 02/27/2008, -19/+37EU member1: "We're kind of running out of budget this year."
EU member2: "WTF? I thought we were better than ever being the US in such economic mess right now".
EU member1: "True, but a little of spare cash won't hurt either..."
EU member2: "Let's fine Microsoft then!"
EU member1: "But fined them not so long ago, do you think they will pay?"
EU member2: "Sure, those bastards do anything to keep their platform closed..." - dylio, on 02/27/2008, -11/+28Yay Unions/Countries' governments imposing law of free trade!
- CarzorStelatis, on 02/27/2008, -3/+20The reason other companies 'get away with it' is that other companies do not have a near-monopoly of the desktop operating system market. Competition law isn't about practices per se, it's about abusing a dominant market position.
- NailToTheX, on 02/27/2008, -11/+27who EXACTLY gets the 1.4b ? the EU? what exactly is the EU? Its going to go a mish-mash of european countries? Or is it going to go to the companies that have been supposedly screwed by microsoft?
- KataLieb, on 02/27/2008, -1/+16America is a socialist state for corporations today. For the corporations, by the corporations. Regular people and voting are just necessary evils.
The motto of capitalism: "Socialize risks, privatize profits!"
Just look at the banks now...Guess who are gonna pay to bail out the banks? Yup, the taxpayers...
Who gets the taxcuts? Corporations and the rich.
Who gets to pay for the wars? Your kids and grandkids and their kids. If they can afford it in the future where corporations have removed even the last rights and minimum requirements from the law books. - yetAnotherCroc, on 02/27/2008, -0/+15well considering the EU has a population of about 400 million and are on roughly the same wealth and technology level as the US they probably make about 1/3 to 1/2 of their revenue there. Imagine losing 1/3 if your income. This is purely guesswork though as I haven't seen the actual numbers.
- dsmx, on 02/27/2008, -1/+16It's not being asked for in dollars, the case was in europe therefore it will be asked for in euro's, the longer microsoft wait the more it will become.
- Rauby, on 02/27/2008, -4/+19This will potential happen to Apple with iTunes monopoly.
- digghasnoethics, on 02/27/2008, -3/+17Sigh
I suppose you are one of those that think the EU is a little market, not really of any consequence next to the might of the US? Well, get with reality. The EU is a *bigger* market than the US and any further transgressions by Microsoft would result in actions that would REALLY hurt Microsoft.
That's why they made the announcement recently about opening up their software. They realise, even if you don't, that they will have to play by the rules and won't get away with throwing their weight around (like they do in the US).
PS EULAs are likely to be considered illegal if it ever came to court in the EU - they break fundamental contractual norms that the EU expects. - viggooo, on 02/27/2008, -3/+16In EU, companies have to follow certain rules to do business. If they don't, there will be fines.
- da_bradler, on 02/27/2008, -5/+18I love the American mentality.
"America already fined and dealt with Microsoft and since America=World nobody else has the right to sue"
Microsoft no matter how much they change 'now'(present tense) cannot change what the 'already'(past tense) did, which is what they are getting finned for. and since the United States already slammed them with anti competitive lawsuits in America for what they were doing during that time, the EU has a pretty strong case(because they were doing the same thing in the EU as well(just in case your slow)) - croxmeister, on 02/27/2008, -6/+18It will probably go into the EU development fund which is used to to stimulate economic growth in poorer areas.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Regional_Dev ...
I hope some of it goes to Linux/Open Source companies, the irony - ryansmith18, on 02/27/2008, -0/+12You can't just throw out a good point because you believe "A lot of people first convert their existing CDs."
Yeah they do that first...and then they begin looking online for music. Naturally, when using an iPod, iTunes is the first stop for online music. - sk11, on 02/27/2008, -3/+15US senator 1: "We're way out of budget and I mean through the god damn roof!!"
US senator 2: "OK, let's borrow more money"
US senator 1: "But, that money's not free, it's a loan which incurs interest!"
US senator 2 turns his head and whistles, his lackey throws large wads of $100 bills on the desk.
US senator 1 masturbates.
Another lackey starts to sprinkle cocaine down.
They all join in.
America ends up deeper in debt, wealthy Americans and corporate giants receive large tax breaks.
Americans hail the American economy and political system to be the finest ever known.
Europeans shake their heads in unison. - viggooo, on 02/27/2008, -4/+16Do you really believe this? In the EU, companies breaking the law will be punished. Microsoft is the first company in 50 years not to comply with an antitrust decision.
- maz2331, on 02/27/2008, -2/+14It wasn't code they had to release, but protocol and interfacing specs. EU rules are that their rights end at the network interface and file format. No need to release the code, but they must tell fully and completely how the protocols work.
Basically the rule is: inside the box, MS owns rights. Outside the box is public.
That's a fair rule, as secret protocols and formats only serve as an artificial lock-in.... so if you have Windows PCs you could ONLY use Windows servers, and servers running OSX, Unix/Linux, or other non-MS software were unfairly disadvantaged.
They were ORDERED to release full and complete interoperability documentation and didn't. So court smacked them for contempt basically. - mysterychips, on 02/27/2008, -0/+12'How is Microsoft linked to the EU?'
That's quite simple, isn't it? MS sell their products in Europe and so have to comply with European law. - Twiggy794, on 02/27/2008, -4/+16I was wondering this myself. How is it any different? I'm assuming the only difference here is that Microsoft has a monopoly on the desktop market whereas Apple doesn't. So until it becomes leverage for Apple to maintain their non-existent desktop monopoly, it won't be a matter of concern.
- maz2331, on 02/27/2008, -1/+12Basically, EU ruling is that MS rights end at the network interface and the file format. It's okay to keep the internals of products totally secret, but they MUST tell everyone how to "talk" to it, and is prohibiting business models based on artificial lock-in.
- TnTBass, on 02/27/2008, -3/+14You answered your own question:
"I mean, sure, Microsoft is a giant and has the monopoly on the market and use unfair advantages."
That, my friend, is illegal. Hence why the EU is fining them. Frankly, I'm more concerned with consumer rights than Microsoft's "rights".
Its about time we stop having companies say "Once you start using our product, good luck using someone else's", and instead start saying "Use our product because it is the best product out there." - inactive, on 02/27/2008, -2/+12 I'm an American and I sure don't see it as an attack against America.
It's a sad state that corporations in this country have free rein and it takes another country to stand up to them and make them do the right thing. But Microsoft could buy a whole country if they wanted to,so this is small change for them. - darkixion, on 02/27/2008, -3/+13If Microsoft just refused to pay then their products would be banned in EU countries, paving massive open roads for alternatives to have a chance.
- sk11, on 02/27/2008, -1/+11You have similar anti-monopoly laws in America, but then your politicians are so easily bribed you might as well refer to them as prostitutes: America ***** sucky, good time, $50k dollar.
- digghasnoethics, on 02/27/2008, -3/+135 seconds later the Microsoft copyrights on Windows are declared null and void in the EU.
10 seconds after that Windows is made freely AND legally available to anyone in the EU (see Antigua).
15 seconds and Balmer would be being bent over by Microsoft shareholders.
Microsoft's entire business depends on government agreement. Destroy that and Microsoft is nothing but history. That's reality. -
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