R. Hewitt Pate, Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust, issued the following statement yesterday after the European Commission announced its order that Microsoft disclose certain information to competitors, offer for sale a version of its Windows Operating System that does not contain the Windows Media Player, and pay a fine of 497 million euros (about $613 million):
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Wasn’t it Bill Gates girl friend who gave the name Micro Soft?
Calm down guys!
“Freedom is always freedom for the man who thinks differently.”
(Rosa Luxemburg)
Supporters of the EU fine:
Do you think that a fine for MS that surpasses the amounts levied on the most notorious price-fixing cartels is fair? Microsoft is facing a civil suit here. They are not being fined for doing anything criminal. Shouldn’t our fines be highest against those people who willingly conspire to steal your money?
I’m not happy with the ruling either; the EU should have fined Microsoft for a lot more money. That kind of cash settlement is nothing to Microsoft’s piggy bank account!
CYOA at its best. Just cause they didnt have the balls to do anything to help the competition. Media Player needs to be removable as Quicktime is and Explorer need to be removable as Safari is. Then Vendors will have a real choice as to what media devices people want. Media Player blows but has most “market share” over real and quicktime cause it cant be removed from any Windows machine without it blowing up. Im an American and Im with the EU on this one.
“Ever wonder why after the DoJ nailed Micro$oftopoly they abruptly changed direction and rolled over?”
Has anybody taken a look at the litigation that has gone on between the DoJ and Microsoft?
An appeals court JUDGE ruled against the breakup of MS that the DoJ asked for. The DoJ didn’t roll over. A Federal Appeals Court rejected the breakup remedy. If you’re going to pass judgment, blame the right people. I think the litigation was much more complex than most people who are passing summary judgements on this matter realize.
Bizarro Jeff,
Cameras in public places only scare people who are doing shit wrong. Who cares if they wanna watch me pick my nose as I wait for the bus? I there were no security cameras, would we have caught that guy in Florida taking that girl? As long as their not in my house and bathrooms, their ok with me.
Americans are nothing but a very sorry swarm of mindless lemmings that are completely incapable of any level of independent thought, and completely lack ANY level of courge or self-respect, as they blame everyone but themselves for their problems.
Americans vote for their own money-hungry reps into congress, and then complain about it.
Americans vote for their own remote-controlled corporate puppet as a president, and then complain about it.
Americans are totally lulled into an enormous MYTH that a 2 party system is a secure system, when in reality BOTH parties are corrupt. But, none-the-less, it gives the mindless Americans a lame excuse to not think and just blame “the other side”.
Americans get their information from large corporate media conglomerates, and think that this information is unbiased. It’s all pure HYPE to get the advertising dollars, and has nothing to do with REAL news. A bomb in Bagdad killed 2 people and gets the lead story, but THOUSANDS died from AIDS in Africa today that no one cared reported on. HYPE sells, and we are all suckers for it.
What if all Americans, on this next election, refused to vote for ANYONE in either party, but decided to vote for someone not of either party? We (yes, I am an American, too) could possibly get the government that we really dream of, the government that is ACTUALLY outlined in the Constitution, not this money hungry perversion we are all to frightened to change. BOTH parties are corrupt – vote them BOTH OUT!!
We Americans are nothing but a very sorry swarm of mindless lemmings that are completely incapable of any level of independent thought, and completely lack ANY level of courge or self-respect, as they blame everyone but themselves for their problems.
I just love this blatant lie…
�The United States� Final Judgment provides clear and effective protection for competition and consumers by preventing affirmative misconduct by Microsoft that would inhibit competition in �middleware� programs, such as the web browser that was the subject of the United States� lawsuit and the media player that is the subject of the EC�s action today.”
Let’s see…
Microsoft has 90%-95% of the desktop OS market. A declared monopoly by the U.S. and E.U.
Microsoft has, by most recent surveys about 95% of the browser market (slightly more than it has in the OS market).
Microsoft has, within the last year, declared it has stopped development of all non MS-OS (Windows) versions of its Internet browser, Internet Explorer.
Therefore…
For those businesses who have built their web presence around MS-IE specific features yet are currently using non-MS OSes (anything other than Windows) they have no choice but to completely rewrite their software (typically very expensive for a very large site) or to change all their non MS OS desktops and laptops to MS OS desktops and laptops. This change will absolutely become necessary when Microsoft decides to stop support for non Windows versions of IE in the near future.
The end result?
Continued
Microsoft uses it desktop OS monopoly to make Internet Explorer a monopoly in and of itself (it had significantly less than 40% market penetration before it was included as an “integral part of Windows” and now has about 95%). Then Microsoft discontinues Internet Explorer on anything but Windows and forces those that used Internet Explorer to now replace any non Windows desktops and laptops with Windows based machines. Thus expanding the Windows monopoly.
(I have personal experience with this. My bank [where I have been banking for the past 23 years] uses a web interface for their online banking which works fine with Internet Explorer on my Mac. It does not work with Safari, Mozilla, Netscape, Camino, iCab, Opera, or OmniWeb. When Microsoft discontinues support for Internet Explorer on the Mac and I want to update to a new Mac OS which is not supported by Internet Explorer 5.2.3 [the current version I have] then will I have to either stay with an old Mac OS or change to a Windows machine or change banks? Clearly Microsoft and my current bank would rather I change to a Windows based machine. My suspicion is that many people will make that change. I won’t. After 23+ years, I will change banks to one which supports the Safari browser or some other third party browser.)
How can the U.S. Government NOT see this as an illegal extension of Microsoft’s monopoly? Simple. The current administration is more interested in companies and company profits than the are in the public at large. (Note the “jobless recovery”. Companies, in general, are much healthier than they were 2+ years ago and Wall Street is doing better, but the average worker and unemployment is worse than it was 2+ years ago.)
Additionally, with over $50 billion in liquid assets (things which could be turned into cash in the very near term), Microsoft can afford to fight any anti trust litigation. No state can afford to spend $1 billion on an anti trust fight. Microsoft could do so without spending even 2% of its cash reserves. Microsoft has become more powerful than any state government when it comes to legal battles. Nearly the same thing can be said when it comes to the U.S. Government.
“Do you think that a fine for MS that surpasses the amounts levied on the most notorious price-fixing cartels is fair? Microsoft is facing a civil suit here. They are not being fined for doing anything criminal. Shouldn’t our fines be highest against those people who willingly conspire to steal your money?”
Don’t look at the absolute number. Look at the percentage. Is fining Microsoft 1% of what they worth fair? How do they compare to the price-fixing cartels’ fine you know about?
Civil suit has nothing to do with this. Often times, a criminal proceeding are accompanied with a civil suit. It does not mean that because of the civil suit, a criminal should go free.
They are fined for doing illegal things. Just laws should be upheld whether they are in a civil proceedings or a criminal proceedings.
Dude, I thought we were talking about Microsoft…
Buffy, you’ll care about cameras when the powers that be start deciding what is right or wrong and you or someone you care about gets hauled off to a detention center for doing something they’ve never thought of as wrong. The cameras are just the start of erosion of personal freedom and the intention of what they might be used for is what is scary.
Aryugaetu, I’m not sure if you’re trolling or being sincere. However, you do illustrate pretty well that Americans have really turned a blind eye to what’s truly going on in our own country. It’s kind of sad and frightening all at the same time. The government has even managed to brainwash some people into thinking that the erosion of their rights is a good thing and necessary to protect America (see Buffy above). America is on it’s way to being a Police State where the government is not there to represent the people but to control them and bend them to what their idea of right and wrong is.
Bizarro Jeff
“… and justice for all …”
Isn’t that the way it goes? Or is it “… and justice for Microsoft?” We are talking about Microsoft, yes, but the concept of justice is much broader than what applies to one corporation.
Aryugaetu, you’re being racist. “Americans this, Americans that”. Might as well say blacks this and blacks that, or Hispanics this Hispanics that. You obviously do not know how diverse, intelligent and respectful most Americans are, just like most Europeans, Cubans, and Eskimos.
Buffy, as for the cameras, I would give you this poem (Nazi Germany 1942), ableit much more extreme:
First they came for the Jews and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the Communists and I did not speak out because I was not a Communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak out for me.
A lot of people can find a lot of things to gripe about re: USA, but things could be a whole lot worse. Lets face it, we have the freedom to gripe. I appreciate the rights that we have, and I don’t like having the gov’t try to take them, but I also appreciate that rights bring responsibilities. A lot of people want the rights without the responsibilities. Gov’t stealing rights leads to dictatorship, people with rights but no responsibility leads to anarchy. Which is worse? Hope to never find out.
Finland, we didn’t “support” communism in WW2, we allied with it for a time in order to overcome a huge evil. My wife’s grandfather spent a lot of nights driving an ammo truck through France without any lights on so that you could gripe about the USA. I think that was Norman’s point. Our foreign policy has been far from perfect, but you’re on this site because a lot of American’s died to let you.
I am American but I applaud the EU for doing more than the DoJ did. That was such bullshit about
“The United States� Final Judgment provides clear and effective protection for competition and consumers by preventing affirmative misconduct by Microsoft that would inhibit competition in �middleware� programs, such as the web browser that was the subject of the United States� lawsuit and the media player that is the subject of the EC�s action today.”
Are they for REAL??? How did this provide “effective” protection? Look at the situation in the browser world today.
tread & others, despite the picture Hollywood paints, the USA did not win WW2 single-handedly by turning up in gleaming uniforms and shooting all Nazis dead with pinpoint accuracy. The UK spent six years fighting that war, and whilst most of our civilian population were huddled in bomb shelters hoping they survived the night, our Air Force were returning the favour by turning Germany’s cities to rubble. If any country saved our arses, it was the Russians, who forced Hitler to look to the East rather than attempt an invasion of southern England. The US gained a lot more than it lost in the three years after you finally decided to join in. That’s always the problem with history. The victors always get to write it.
G Spank
We were talking about American idiotism and Microsoft… not rasism.
With rasism you do not need to go so far (Germany 1942)… just remember the USA long after the WWII (Martin Luther etc…)… you do not need to go so far at all… just remember how USA acted/acts in the Vietnam/Korea/Afganistan/Iraq and how Americans treat people in the Cuba (justice and freedom indeed)… You do not need to go so far… Just remember how USA let’s the Israel to treat people everyday… We have to remember that the USA is the number 2nd on the list of the worlds most criminal states who threat the world peace. After USA comes North-Korea. Before USA is Israel. Actually USA should be number one, because without USA Israel can’t do what it does.
I would not call Americans intelligent or respectful at the same sentence with Cubans and Eskimos. Eskimos have never harmed anyone. Europeans today understands that world peace and prosperity does not come with guns. It is more like Libert� + Egalit� + Fraternit� + education + fair trade (is more than free trade) + we have to save the earth from the Americans before they pollute and poison everyone or shoot everyone. We don’t know which comes first American pollution or guns? We are not sure. We do know that idiots like Bush are disastrous to our beloved planet and M$ is disastrous to everybody on it.
Dave H.. Don’t go there
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”smile” style=”border:0;” /> Repeat after me… Communists = bad thing.
after reading Aryugaetu and Finn’s posts, I scrounged around and found my John Wayne dvd collection. Watching that should balance it out.
Dave, US merchant sailors were being sunk as early as 1939 transporting lend/lease to the UK, but it did take us a long time to get to the front line. Being the only country involved that was not having to save its soil has something to do with that. Americans nearly always have to fight for ideals, wacky cowboys that we are.
Everyone wants American money, troops, innovations, but they dont want America. We are not perfect but at least we have the balls to back up our ideals, not just sit around and chat. Bullshit we didnt win that damn war. Europe would be 1 big Nazi state if it wasnt for USA and Russia. And just look how good Russia is doing these days.
G Spank – Im not sitting here rooting for lynchings. Im talking about cameras on public streets watching for sicko kidnappers and drug dealers. Dont let the conspiracy theorys warp your brain (along with bizarro Jeff who is already too far gone), youve watched too many Matrix movies.
Now that we’ve gotten sssooooo far off topic. MS needs to be shaken up a little, maybe they will stop making substandard verions of their middleware for the other platforms
Buffy, all I’m saying is that it is the first step in a very dangerous direction. Allowing the government to spy on citizens without due cause is what we’ve given them the right to do. So everyone says “Hey they’re not arresting me, so what’s the problem!?”. Well, the problem could be if the conservative right goes even farther right (hard to imagine they could), and uses that power to arrest people it considers harmful to it’s agendas. Now all of a sudden we’re in a gray area, where the real danger becomes quickly apparent. I’m not a conspiracy theorist by any means. I just see this country going in very bad directions on all counts…
I believe it got off-topic when Gene sounded off:
“Oh yeah, Europe with it’s near socialism in many countries really has done it right. I for one am glad I live in a country where the government doesn’t meddle in absolutely everything and doesn’t take over 50% of my income in the form of taxes. Yeah, if you like it that way, then Europe is where you need to be. I think I’ll stick it out over here in America thank you, even though we have plenty of people who would love to make it more like Europe over here right now, including the guy running for President from Massachusetts.”