news.cnet.com — The European Union's new complaint against Microsoft really takes one back. Like a decade or so. Its objection--that bundling a browser into the operating system violates antitrust law--is the same one that U.S. regulators raised more than a decade ago.
Jan 16, 2009 View in Crawl 4
rieuwaJan 16, 2009
FED UP. As a European, I am fed up of our tax money going into this pointless debate, which will undoubtedly result in a ridiculous decision, like "Windows 7 NI edition" (no media player, no internet explorer.. what's next... no taskbar?). Virtually no-one bought the light-version of XP/Vista without media player. I'm not the greatest fan of IE. I don't mind it, but have never felt 'forced' by Microsoft to not change to another browser.If you want to share your views, write to Neelie Kroes, European Commissioner for competition at: <a class="user" href="http://ec.europa.eu/commission_barroso/kroes/contact_en.html">http://ec.europa.eu/commission_barroso/kroes/conta ...</a> . This silliness has gone on long enough...
rieuwaJan 17, 2009
Like WinGeek, I receive 0 euros/dollars/pounds from Microsoft, but as I describe above, I have absolutely NO shame in acknowledging that I like following Microsoft, and that I appreciate what they do. That doesn't mean that I don't enjoy following other tech companies, or other technologies!Yes, MS have technical evangelists, and I have met many, but what you fail to understand, is that they are not 'just paid' to promote MS techs, they are people that are passionate about technology/programming in general, much like yourself I suspect. These people are 'paid' to share that enthusiasm, through discussions, through demos, through major initiatives, through student competitions like the Imagine Cup.... In Microsoft, they have no sales role. They are an independent entity!I am sorry if my MS-focused digg-profile offends you! But that's what I enjoy following, and neither you, nor anyone else will dictate what I should be interested in!
niczarJan 18, 2009
Yeah he's a MS fanboi, since nobody's doing that on their own -- who actually LIKES MS products? -- they've gotta be paying him. The real give away is the use of the "taxpayer money" -- we don't use that stupid line in Europe. That's what the Bush-sucking morons in London do, though. I wish we'd followed De Gaulle's advice and kept them out of the EU.
azimuth1Jan 19, 2009
Your entire argument is destroyed by the fact that the US sued Microsoft, *for the same thing*, ten years ago, as it says in the description.Sorry.
kayislanddrunkJan 19, 2009
If anything, MS is part of a duopoly.
carzorstelatisJan 19, 2009
'You're prices are inflated...'If you're going to accuse people of being stupid, you could at least learn the difference between "your" and "you're". Besides that, I don't think that the EU makes Microsoft go through very many 'dollars of regulation' given that the EU's currency is not the dollar.
carzorstelatisJan 19, 2009
They wouldn't completely withdraw from the market because the EU market is bigger (in both people and GDP) than the United States. If they tried to do it "at arm's length" (i.e. by running their European operation from the US) then they'd still be bound by EU law the same way as a European company selling products to the US without an office there still has to abide by US law in its dealings with US customers.
carzorstelatisJan 19, 2009
That's exactly the EU's point: Microsoft has designed their monopoly product (Windows) in order to give one of its other products (Internet Explorer) better access to the monopoly product than competitors.
firefly2271Jan 24, 2009
no that 60% includes the people (like me) who are forced to use it at work.@t2t2 I'll have to try that, thanks
johnnysoftwareJul 12, 2009
Yeah, well, if that ruling in the late 1990s had not been set aside by a subsequent administration then US economy would have saved about a trillion dollars in malware loses and needless software retooling costs.