Microsoft hit by record EU fine

[mattmack]

No way will they reveal their code. That ruling will be overturned on the appeal. That's like asking KFC what's their 11 herbs and spices.

As far as I am aware KFC doesn't limit if you want to sell fried chicken. This is an anti trust suit and not simply asking them to reveal their secrets

 

[crazzyeddie]

All i can say is- Finally. The US should have done this years ago. Maybe then the situation with WMP wouldn't be so out of hand.

 

[InsiderTravels]

That's about the funniest post I've read in this thread!

I agree with you wholeheartedly, EU economies would flounder without Microsoft coming to their rescue - showing them how real American enterprise save them from sliding back into the Middle Ages. Without American industrial leadership Europe would surely drown in a morass of mediocrity. Do you think America invented democracy too ?

Now, that's the kind of sarcasm I love. Thank you Switzerland for saying what I hadn't had the guts to say myself. As an American, I'm always amazed and appalled at just how many of my fellow citizens truly believe in the myth of American superiority. And sadly, that naivety only seems to be progressively getting worse.

 

[jasonvaughan]

No way will they reveal their code. That ruling will be overturned on the appeal. That's like asking KFC what's their 11 herbs and spices.

Or rather getting KFC to revel which variety of genetically modified rat was being passed off as tender suculent chicken!

NB the example above is for illustrative purposes only. The author does NOT think KFC passes off rat as chicken!

 

[mattmack]

Or rather getting KFC to revel which variety of genetically modified rat was being passed off as tender suculent chicken!

NB the example above is for illustrative purposes only. The author does NOT think KFC passes off rat as chicken!

I don't know I've had some fishy tasting chicken lately

 

[carbonmotion]

I don't care for Microsoft or its products anymore then the next guy, but I think this "holy war" mentality needs to end.

These rulings are coming down from world-class moronic beauracrats, they don't understand how operating systems or computers work. IE, WMP, they are all integrated into XP; just like QuickTime, iTunes, and Safari are integrated into OS X. Take out those components, and that removes a lot of the capabilities of the OS. For example, doesn't OS X use QuickTime to display some of the effects? Like Expose? It's biased, and really comes across as jealousy more then anything else, to think you can rule on Microsoft in one way and let everyone else do the same thing.

If you really don't like Microsoft as a monoply, do something about it. Provide tax incentives to Microsoft for being competitive and to their competitors for coming up with new ideas, have government organizations re-evaluate using MS software (OpenOffice for instance), etc. You can grow the economy, deal with the problem, and encourage the tech industry to come back; sounds a lot better then just sitting around and levying retarded rulings that have about as much effect in dealing with the issue as smoking pot does.

You can delete Quicktime, Safari, and iTunes from the applications folder and osx will still work... not so with IE and MWP... they are tightly integrated in to th esystem so much so that if they are deleted, the os will collapse.

 

[mattmack]

You can delete Quicktime, Safari, and iTunes from the applications folder and osx will still work... not so with IE and MWP... they are tightly integrated in to th esystem so much so that if they are deleted, the os will collapse.

I would have to agree the ruling is based on the OS not any individual selling product from microsoft. The problem with the OS is you can not ake any of the individual components (such as IE or WMP) out and still have a functional system and also even if you try to delete these features the os won't let you. (It would probably connect to th einternet and tell microsoft that you are doing something illegal j/k)

 

[trueice]

Bias at its best...

I agree that whether or not M$ bundles a media player with the OS is by itself, not a big deal. One of the more problematic aspects of what M$ has done is that it claims the OS itself is basically rendered "inoperable" if they DO NOT include things like IE or the Media Player. This is just plain wrong, and if it isn't, it is further evidence that M$ is selling crap since a first year computer science student understands why there are layers in software and why you separate 'system' software from 'application' software. They make those claims because they know the average user will take to whatever is already there and will not bother to explore alternatives from competitors.

I don't personally know anyone who has actually bought a $499 computer from Dell (or anyone else). By the time they they throw in all the other add-ons required to make it even a marginally desirable system, they spend considerably more. The '$499' figure just helps promote the myth that PCs cost far less than Macs.

I'm also interested in your assertion that M$ has made a lot of good innovations in technology. Everything I have ever seen M$ do with regard to technology turned out to be a bad "knock-off" of some existing technology. In most cases, their attempts yielded that was not as good/reliable as the original, or was "proprietary" and closed (would not operate with the existing item).

I make software for a living and I just find it very hard to have any kind of respect for M$, what they do, and how they do it. I hate that they have made so much money by pushing "crap" to the masses, and to a large degree, convinced the public that it's OK and that is just what should be expected when they use a computer.

-- Mr_Ed steps off the soap box --

There is not a single major software vendor who doesnt or hasnt done the same thing microsoft has done. If you actually think that Apple "designed" all of their software or that Adobe and Macromedia havent bought and shut down other software companies that shows your bias and maybe naivete.

For all the Apple lovers (the company not the hardware), get real, they are a large company just like any other. If everything were run the Apple way they would say one thing and then do another, ask the Retail Sales Reps about their bonuses, or how about the resellers who are being forced out of the market. If the market were reversed Apple would do the exact same things. Fanatics (not all mac users fall in this category) seem to have a short memory, now they all love IBM for making a viable processor alternative to AMD and Intel, the same company that they hated as much as they hate MS in this day and age.
Owning both and selling both at CompUSA, I can honestly say that PCs DO cost less, much less hardware-wise. I have a g3 all-in-one, a 1ghz emac radeon graphics, and probably will buy g5 sometime soon. At the sametime I will be upgrading my pc from AMD 2700+ to an AMD64fx.

The biggest problem with Apple is that they dont compete with PCs on a hardware level, they blow them out of the water as far as applications, but when someone can get an AMD64, 512 DDR400, 160GBHDD, 8x DVD Burner, VGA/DVI and TV-out, 5 usb and 2 firewire400s, for $1000 (950 if you include rebate Compaq 6900NX) people generally gravitate to the PC...I know I did not include the screen, but if you really think an emac or an imac can compare with that machine Apple wouldnt have such a hard time selling the emacs and imacs. As a geek I should mention that Compaq uses a standard ATX case so if someone were so inclined they could always swap out motherboard and proc.
In the case of my emac it was 757 at store cost, then I had to hack it to add the dvd burner, and 80gb hard drive, I cant really compare cost on that one because I had extra dvd burners and it only cost me about 70 for the 80gb.

I cant wait to see how fanatics react if MS charges for SP2, something Apple has been doing for years....

//*Another soapbox rant from a pc and mac lover....Mac vs. PC "Introducing the worlds Dumbest debate" *//

 

[Foocha]

obviously freaking EU wants to know how to make the damn OS. They don't give a rat ass about the money. As long as they have the idea of how they make the OS then they will make more money then 470 million craps. But if bill gates doesn't want to pay hell let fine him.
That's the deal you bunch of mac morons.

Us freaking Europeans already have Linux (written by Linus Torvalds, another freaking EU citizen), so we don't need to pinch an OS off anyone.

 

[t0m3nt0r]

yeah ok

sure linux. how many people use them . well not as much as microsoft i am guessing. I am not sure what they will do with it but for sure they will use it for their own benefit such ash improve their os, make more virus for micro. lol
whatever, there many reasons for that
you don't know neither do i but i have the free to say this stuff

 

[t0m3nt0r]

BTW don't tell me that not a single company doesn't want to play monopoly
bull ****

 

[Foocha]

Is this an April Fools?

 

[dekator]

Real implications of Media Player deal

All i can say is- Finally. The US should have done this years ago. Maybe then the situation with WMP wouldn't be so out of hand.

I think you're spot-on in pointing out that Media Player (and its format) is the biggest issue here. There's an interesting article on Yahoo about its implications and the future of digital entertainment.

(It may show up at MacBytes too, perhaps, as I submitted it)