http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/27/microsoft-slammed-by-european-commission-with-1-4b-fine/ Engadget Comments for Microsoft slammed by European Commission with $1.35b fine http://www.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/27/microsoft-slammed-by-european-commission-with-1-4b-fine/http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/27/microsoft-slammed-by-european-commission-with-1-4b-fine/Feb 27th 2008 8:30AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/02/27/microsoft-slammed-by-european-commission-with-1-4b-fine/http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/27/microsoft-slammed-by-european-commission-with-1-4b-fine/
They used the government to try to take down the competition. No amount of high-minded BS rhetoric, and "low rank" voting can cover that up.]]>Feb 27th 2008 9:45AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/02/27/microsoft-slammed-by-european-commission-with-1-4b-fine/http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/27/microsoft-slammed-by-european-commission-with-1-4b-fine/Feb 27th 2008 10:02AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/02/27/microsoft-slammed-by-european-commission-with-1-4b-fine/http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/27/microsoft-slammed-by-european-commission-with-1-4b-fine/
Haven't you all learned that taxes, fines and all other governmental levies are nothing more than legalized theft? And most of you want more?]]>Feb 27th 2008 10:14AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/02/27/microsoft-slammed-by-european-commission-with-1-4b-fine/http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/27/microsoft-slammed-by-european-commission-with-1-4b-fine/
Thank you for being an honest and thankful person. I too not once hesitated to pay licensing fees where they were do when I was coding.

If you don't have a financial motivation to create and maintain software, then what motivation is there? Honestly, only so many people will maintain their software, and none so well as Microsoft.]]>Feb 27th 2008 10:16AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/02/27/microsoft-slammed-by-european-commission-with-1-4b-fine/http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/27/microsoft-slammed-by-european-commission-with-1-4b-fine/Feb 27th 2008 11:24AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/02/27/microsoft-slammed-by-european-commission-with-1-4b-fine/http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/27/microsoft-slammed-by-european-commission-with-1-4b-fine/
It's not true. We've got MS vs crap because MS killed off all competitors and now they dictate prices and quality.

In healthy competetive environment we could have cheaper, better and interoperable software (not neccessary open source - it has nothing to do with it).
]]>Feb 27th 2008 12:58PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/02/27/microsoft-slammed-by-european-commission-with-1-4b-fine/http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/27/microsoft-slammed-by-european-commission-with-1-4b-fine/Feb 27th 2008 2:06PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/02/27/microsoft-slammed-by-european-commission-with-1-4b-fine/http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/27/microsoft-slammed-by-european-commission-with-1-4b-fine/
I think only the country in which a company is registered should a company be liable for any such fines, not that I believe in these anti-trust hearings anyway.]]>Feb 27th 2008 8:08PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/02/27/microsoft-slammed-by-european-commission-with-1-4b-fine/http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/27/microsoft-slammed-by-european-commission-with-1-4b-fine/
They didn't "kill off all competitors," we consumers did. If Microsoft were a poorer OS (like ZETA) than it would die out. Do you think Redhat, OSX, Solaris, etc. got to be industry leaders because they weren't as good as other operating systems? What about Ubuntu, KDE, and FreeBSD? I'm sure they must have killed Xandros and gOS.]]>Feb 27th 2008 10:35PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/02/27/microsoft-slammed-by-european-commission-with-1-4b-fine/http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/27/microsoft-slammed-by-european-commission-with-1-4b-fine/
But screw the EU pocket picking socialist.]]>Feb 28th 2008 10:15AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/02/27/microsoft-slammed-by-european-commission-with-1-4b-fine/http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/27/microsoft-slammed-by-european-commission-with-1-4b-fine/Feb 27th 2008 8:33AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/02/27/microsoft-slammed-by-european-commission-with-1-4b-fine/http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/27/microsoft-slammed-by-european-commission-with-1-4b-fine/
And don't give me that Linux is better... It's more than just about a Kernel and OS design; although they are certainly important and fundemental. Microsoft gets that and Linux "community" doesn't.]]>Feb 27th 2008 10:27AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/02/27/microsoft-slammed-by-european-commission-with-1-4b-fine/http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/27/microsoft-slammed-by-european-commission-with-1-4b-fine/Feb 27th 2008 12:10PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/02/27/microsoft-slammed-by-european-commission-with-1-4b-fine/http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/27/microsoft-slammed-by-european-commission-with-1-4b-fine/
Go Engadget, let's nail those sons of bitches to the cross! What's wrong with them, trying to actually make MONEY off of what THEY create... the NERVE!]]>Feb 27th 2008 8:31AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/02/27/microsoft-slammed-by-european-commission-with-1-4b-fine/http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/27/microsoft-slammed-by-european-commission-with-1-4b-fine/Feb 27th 2008 10:50AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/02/27/microsoft-slammed-by-european-commission-with-1-4b-fine/http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/27/microsoft-slammed-by-european-commission-with-1-4b-fine/Feb 27th 2008 8:32AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/02/27/microsoft-slammed-by-european-commission-with-1-4b-fine/http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/27/microsoft-slammed-by-european-commission-with-1-4b-fine/Feb 27th 2008 8:32AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/02/27/microsoft-slammed-by-european-commission-with-1-4b-fine/http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/27/microsoft-slammed-by-european-commission-with-1-4b-fine/Feb 27th 2008 8:37AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/02/27/microsoft-slammed-by-european-commission-with-1-4b-fine/http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/27/microsoft-slammed-by-european-commission-with-1-4b-fine/Feb 27th 2008 8:41AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/02/27/microsoft-slammed-by-european-commission-with-1-4b-fine/http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/27/microsoft-slammed-by-european-commission-with-1-4b-fine/
And when did I say it was about the price of their products? I know full well that it is about licensing fees, but thank you for that incredible insight.]]>Feb 27th 2008 8:51AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/02/27/microsoft-slammed-by-european-commission-with-1-4b-fine/http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/27/microsoft-slammed-by-european-commission-with-1-4b-fine/
It's like democracy, really. If there weren't laws in effect to keep an administration from declaring themselves 'president' indefinitely, democracy would be gone..]]>Feb 27th 2008 8:56AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/02/27/microsoft-slammed-by-european-commission-with-1-4b-fine/http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/27/microsoft-slammed-by-european-commission-with-1-4b-fine/Feb 27th 2008 9:06AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/02/27/microsoft-slammed-by-european-commission-with-1-4b-fine/http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/27/microsoft-slammed-by-european-commission-with-1-4b-fine/Feb 27th 2008 9:07AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/02/27/microsoft-slammed-by-european-commission-with-1-4b-fine/http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/27/microsoft-slammed-by-european-commission-with-1-4b-fine/Feb 27th 2008 9:53AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/02/27/microsoft-slammed-by-european-commission-with-1-4b-fine/http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/27/microsoft-slammed-by-european-commission-with-1-4b-fine/Feb 27th 2008 1:25PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/02/27/microsoft-slammed-by-european-commission-with-1-4b-fine/http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/27/microsoft-slammed-by-european-commission-with-1-4b-fine/Mar 3rd 2008 10:35AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/02/27/microsoft-slammed-by-european-commission-with-1-4b-fine/http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/27/microsoft-slammed-by-european-commission-with-1-4b-fine/Feb 27th 2008 8:33AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/02/27/microsoft-slammed-by-european-commission-with-1-4b-fine/http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/27/microsoft-slammed-by-european-commission-with-1-4b-fine/Feb 27th 2008 9:12AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/02/27/microsoft-slammed-by-european-commission-with-1-4b-fine/http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/27/microsoft-slammed-by-european-commission-with-1-4b-fine/Feb 27th 2008 9:14AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/02/27/microsoft-slammed-by-european-commission-with-1-4b-fine/http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/27/microsoft-slammed-by-european-commission-with-1-4b-fine/Feb 27th 2008 9:21AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/02/27/microsoft-slammed-by-european-commission-with-1-4b-fine/http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/27/microsoft-slammed-by-european-commission-with-1-4b-fine/Feb 27th 2008 12:28PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/02/27/microsoft-slammed-by-european-commission-with-1-4b-fine/http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/27/microsoft-slammed-by-european-commission-with-1-4b-fine/
Dippshits just gave their politicans a raise]]>Feb 28th 2008 4:25PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/02/27/microsoft-slammed-by-european-commission-with-1-4b-fine/http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/27/microsoft-slammed-by-european-commission-with-1-4b-fine/Feb 27th 2008 8:38AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/02/27/microsoft-slammed-by-european-commission-with-1-4b-fine/http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/27/microsoft-slammed-by-european-commission-with-1-4b-fine/Feb 27th 2008 8:40AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/02/27/microsoft-slammed-by-european-commission-with-1-4b-fine/http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/27/microsoft-slammed-by-european-commission-with-1-4b-fine/Feb 27th 2008 8:42AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/02/27/microsoft-slammed-by-european-commission-with-1-4b-fine/http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/27/microsoft-slammed-by-european-commission-with-1-4b-fine/
...And some people wonder where Anti-Americanism comes from!!]]>Feb 27th 2008 8:46AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/02/27/microsoft-slammed-by-european-commission-with-1-4b-fine/http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/27/microsoft-slammed-by-european-commission-with-1-4b-fine/IE6 was released in 2001. Do you know how long it took for IE7 to be released ?
Do you know what "pushed" MS to finally release a new version? A little something called Firefox.
Why wasn't there another competitor to IE before ?
Well netscape tried, but you can't beat free and bundled with windows.

Moral of the story, no competition, IE6 stagnated and remained around for years .... a little competition and we all benefited. ]]>Feb 27th 2008 10:10AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/02/27/microsoft-slammed-by-european-commission-with-1-4b-fine/http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/27/microsoft-slammed-by-european-commission-with-1-4b-fine/
Another good solution for Microsoft is to bundle 17 web browsers with any version of Vista, and 5 other email organizers and 12 media players and 5 Instant Messengers in order to create fair competition.

Great idea, ha?]]>Feb 27th 2008 10:24AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/02/27/microsoft-slammed-by-european-commission-with-1-4b-fine/http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/27/microsoft-slammed-by-european-commission-with-1-4b-fine/
What's the point of your story? IE6 stagnated, so a new product began to chip away at its market share. Mozilla.org didn't need the US government to come in and bail them out, did they? The market worked fine on its own.]]>Feb 27th 2008 12:24PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/02/27/microsoft-slammed-by-european-commission-with-1-4b-fine/http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/27/microsoft-slammed-by-european-commission-with-1-4b-fine/
Now focus:
1. This does not mean that bundling is illegal.
2. This does not mean that dominating market is illegal.

If both bundling and dominating another market are true, *then* it's illegal.

Get it? Neither Mozilla nor Opera nor Apple are in such situation, so they can bundle (or not bundle) what they please.
]]>Feb 27th 2008 12:59PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/02/27/microsoft-slammed-by-european-commission-with-1-4b-fine/http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/27/microsoft-slammed-by-european-commission-with-1-4b-fine/
But no, that is not true IE next release after IE6 didn't came out on time because of regulations and changes to vista to comply with those regulations and some misses from microsoft. Not because of that little thing Firefox. That said I think firefox is better than IE7 because its simplicity, inline search and firebug extension.

But dont blend reality and get your facts right.
Microsoft decided to launch a version before vista because Firefox market gains but they had that version working years before and have to keep it quietly because of the netscape case lost! and thats the real true.]]>Feb 27th 2008 2:34PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/02/27/microsoft-slammed-by-european-commission-with-1-4b-fine/http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/27/microsoft-slammed-by-european-commission-with-1-4b-fine/Feb 27th 2008 8:45AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/02/27/microsoft-slammed-by-european-commission-with-1-4b-fine/http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/27/microsoft-slammed-by-european-commission-with-1-4b-fine/Feb 27th 2008 8:48AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/02/27/microsoft-slammed-by-european-commission-with-1-4b-fine/http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/27/microsoft-slammed-by-european-commission-with-1-4b-fine/Feb 27th 2008 3:48PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/02/27/microsoft-slammed-by-european-commission-with-1-4b-fine/http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/27/microsoft-slammed-by-european-commission-with-1-4b-fine/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antitrust]]>Feb 27th 2008 8:43AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/02/27/microsoft-slammed-by-european-commission-with-1-4b-fine/http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/27/microsoft-slammed-by-european-commission-with-1-4b-fine/Feb 27th 2008 8:52AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/02/27/microsoft-slammed-by-european-commission-with-1-4b-fine/http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/27/microsoft-slammed-by-european-commission-with-1-4b-fine/Feb 27th 2008 8:54AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/02/27/microsoft-slammed-by-european-commission-with-1-4b-fine/http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/27/microsoft-slammed-by-european-commission-with-1-4b-fine/Feb 27th 2008 9:14AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/02/27/microsoft-slammed-by-european-commission-with-1-4b-fine/http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/27/microsoft-slammed-by-european-commission-with-1-4b-fine/
And the minute that happens watch all the same people cheering this suddenly think that it is now totally unfair.]]>Feb 27th 2008 9:38AM