“Last week, European Union commissioner Mario Monti inflicted a 497 million Euros fine on Microsoft – the highest fine in the history of European antitrust regulation. The case against Microsoft was waged, in Europe as it was in the United States, by its competitors. What these companies don’t want is for Microsoft to ‘prevent’ them from succeeding in the European market. What competitors really fear is Microsoft’s ability to satisfy consumers better than they do, at a cheaper price,” Alberto Mingardi writes for The Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty.
“Microsoft is far from the only practitioner of integrated applications. Apple integrates and bundles its own software for Internet browsing (‘Safari’) as well as for multimedia applications (‘Itunes’). In the parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14-30), the ‘wicked and lazy’ servant who hid his talent in the ground is punished and the money is taken away from him. The productive and the entrepreneurial are praised, whereas the lazy is blamed. Antitrust rulings such as Mario Monti
what’s worng is the bundling analogy. windows media player is tightly integrated into the OS. internet explorer is tightly integrated into the OS. MS is claiming that those components are critical to the computer’s operating system – basically saying they are not stand alone apps.
safari is not integrated into the OS, itunes is not integrated into the OS. they are both (as well as quicktime) stand alone apps. that is a huge difference. because MS integrated IE and WMP into windows, that’s illegal. and thus they should be held accountable.
period.
addendum: i hate stupid people.
Yeah right? Give me a break, let M$ dwindle to even something like 60% dominance in the market place. Then would this guy be happy? No, he’s another blow-hard for all things american without truly understanding the situation, he speaks on the morals and values of anything from somewhere else opposing an american company is a slap in america’s face and a disgrace to the ‘truly great land of our.’ M$ is a far cry from say a super pro-american corp. like AmWay. Plain and simple, they aspire to another not so admirable american marketing tenant, “make crap and make tons of it!”
I’m not anti patriotic, far from it, but I know crap when I see it and am able to separate that fact from my patriotism.
I agree with the author we should ALL do as the Bible says…
1. Marriage shall not impede a man’s right to take concubines in addition to his wife or wives. (II Sam 5:13; I Kings 11:3; II Chron 11:21)
2. A marriage shall be considered valid only if the wife is a virgin. If the wife is not a virgin, she shall be executed. (Deut 22:13-21)
3. Marriage of a believer and a non-believer shall be forbidden. (Gen 24:3; Num 25:1-9; Ezra 9:12; Neh 10:30)
4. Since marriage is for life, no state or federal law shall be construed to permit divorce. (Deut 22:19; Mark 10:9)
5. In lieu of marriage, if there are no acceptable men in your town, it is required that you get your dad drunk and have sex with him (even if he had previously offered you up as a sex toy to men young and old), tag-teaming with any sisters you may have. Of course, this rule applies only if you are female. (Gen 19:31-36)
But, some Biblical laws are a bit unclear to me…
I would like to sell my daughter into slavery, as sanctioned in Exodus 21:7. In this day and age, what do you think would be a fair price for her?
I know that I am allowed no contact with a woman while she is in her period of menstrual uncleanliness (Lev. 15:19-24). The problem is, how do I tell? I have tried asking, but most women take offence.
Lev. 25:44 states that I may indeed possess slaves, both male and female, provided they are purchased from neighbouring nations. A friend of mine claims that this applies to Mexicans, but not Canadians. Can you clarify? Why can’t I own Canadians?
I have a neighbour who insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus 35:2 clearly states he should be put to death. Am I morally obligated to kill him myself?
A friend of mine feels that even though eating shellfish is an abomination (Lev. 11:10), it is a lesser abomination than homosexuality. I don’t agree. Can you settle this?
Lev. 21:20 states that I may not approach the altar of God if I have a defect in my sight. I have to admit that I wear reading glasses. Does my vision have to be 20/20, or is there some wiggle room here?
Most of my male friends get their hair trimmed, including the hair around their temples, even though this is expressly forbidden by Lev.19:27. How should they die?
I know from Lev. 11:6-8 that touching the skin of a dead pig makes me unclean, but may I still play football if I wear gloves?
Just wondering!
This guy doesn’t even know what he’s talking about. Must be another of these new age journalists. “less effective at satisfying consumers” ? Yea I’ll be sure to complement M$ next worm I get in my E-mail.
What’s funny is, on the Mac, you can remove iTunes and Safari and the OS still operates perfectly fine, flawless. You cannot remove Internet Explorer and Windows Media Player and expect Windows to run Flawlessly. In fact, you can’t patch or update it for security unless you have these two installed and updated. You don’t have a choice with Windows. You *HAVE* that choice with Mac OS. BIG DIFFERENCE! (and look, I didn’t have to cite biblical passages, either.)
Yes. It’s the way WMP and IE are part of the OS that’s the problem. OS-X also has Quicktime as an intrinsic part of the OS, kust like Audio Units or Cocoa or whatever. The difference is that Quicktime Player, iTunes, Fincal Cut, iMovie are all applications that USE quicktime, and third party developers can also quicktime should they want to.
So Windows Media being part of the OS, providing some facilities to developers is not a problem. Being a closed system that developers don’t know about and can’t create competing products on IS a problem.
Mingardi has obviously never seen the proof that Bill Gates is the Devil. Either that or he’s on the Devil’s payroll.
MacDailyNews Take: One need only to compare Apple’s Safari (or “alternative” browsers for the Windows platform) to Microsoft’s old and relatively featureless Internet Explorer to see why the EU position is correct. No competition results in stagnation. MS IE is not the best browser by a long shot, but it is by far the most used, simply because Microsoft abused its monopoly position. Now, Microsoft is trying it with Windows Media Player. Mingardi is wrong.
Mingardi is a religious nut.
Now now, people. Clearly Microsoft satisfies its users FAR better than Apple. Isn’t it obvious?
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Aryugaetu,
Ah, a classic West Wing scene (Season 2, Ep. 3 [The Midterms] if I’m not mistaken) plus kudos on finding several new bits of Biblical eccentricity.
If only “real” politicians were that well read.
Thanks.
Being Gay in this age of “Everyone is equal except those we don’t like, don’t care to like, looks different, prays differently and/or make us uncomfortable”, and with Gay marriages being in the news, it is very easy to find rebuttals to the Bible-thumpers.
What would the world look like if the governments were taken out of the hands of religious zealots and corporations? Why do we, as citizens, allow it to happen?
Bad things happen when good people do nothing.
Last Mac I saw out of the box (3 days ago) also had IE in the apps folder.
YES!! WE LOVE TO BE EUROPEANS!!!!!!
And most of all, we love and estimate Mr.Monti the head of Untitrust Commision in UE: this guy doesn’t ever care about who is who and how much power he has, this guy had warn, months ago, ISP companies to respect privacy on the net and to not retain info on users data for a long time (and all of the restriction made with the excuse of terrorism are bullshit). This guy has warn US to respect privacy as well, this guy has warn Web sites about the not clear use of cockies.
This guy love freedom and hate monopolies as all free people in the UE or US and all over the world should!!!!
Long life to Mr.Monti and to the ones that shares the same attitude!!
Take care,
pier . UE, free world
Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large numbers.
Hmmm, I wonder if this nitwit thinks that Safari is an integral part of OSX..?
Nah, that would require actual thought. Dumb question.
Ah yes, once again quoting the bible to make his point. Lovely. And of course, Microshaft did nothing wrong, at least according to the bible, right?…
Well, guess what. We are not governed by the bible (officially), either here or in the EU. So, although Microcrap did not break any of the 10 Commandments, they still broke the freakin’ law and deserve punishment. So take yer bible thumpin’ ass somewhere else. HA!
Forget about the integration of the apps in the OS. How can the author really think that the action against MS be immoral?
He says:
We know that competition isn�t a quantity; it is a process. It is the process by which entrepreneurs forecast and discover the preferences of consumers. Microsoft proved to be very good in such an undertaking, and punishing the company for its own success does not just weaken a free economy; it is plainly immoral.
One. Consumers who use Windows do realize they have a choice, but that choice is killed when they try to use that option. Windows will ask and ask and ask again to disable similar software from its system. And in some cases, I’ve seen the Windows Media Player keep making itself the default player for all MIME types that it can play regardless of user options. How can this be fair for a monopoly to eliminate choice?
Two. Microsoft’s business practices have been far from moral and ethical. How can this author defend Microsoft when it steals and repackage the smaller company’s idea as its own? Excel is Lotus 1-2-3. Word is Wordperfect. People forget that. Moreover, Microsoft has been linked to funding a company to try and defuse Linux with litigation. The funny thing about it is that SCO will probably be the one to suffer, not Microsoft. So, in essence, MS is using them as a shield to further their malicious intent.
Three. Internet Explorer. Now if that isn’t a joke, I don’t know what is. How could it be fair to Netscape, a company whose main stream of revenue was its sales of its browser, be forced into minority share and eventual sale of itself because MS used its advantage of being a monopoly to make the same software and give it away for free calling it “essential.” That is hogwash.
People have been blinded by Microsoft for so long that it just makes me sick. MS is the poster child for lack of ethics and immorality. This author needs to get a clue.
It’s “Acton Institute,” not “Action Institute.” And yeah, they seem to be professional Microsoft apologists.
I don’t think they’re “blinded.” I suspect there’s some real financial motivation for their statements.
Addendum:
I just checked the links about the guy which the article is reffered to and know what? Mr.Mingardi in his own site talk about liberalism as most powerfull people does: free market, no rules, rules made by the market and competition. Great, most of us would love this, but we all know that is just propaganda. Competition? where is competition if a company owns the major share of a market? Have you ever seen a new company trying to enter a market where one or two controll it? Chance, wich kind of chance they’ll have? Name an example in the last 20 years? A free market, open to competition it ccould exist in the ’50s or ’60s not in the last 20 years in the Us in the UE wherever….let see what China will do….
Mr.Mingardi also in his site, don’t want to talk about Mr.Berlusconi monopolies and dangerous position, in a western democracy, as Prime Minister, Media monopolist, bank and insurance companies owner. Have you ever seen the american documentary “Citizen Berlusconi”? from [url=http://www.Pbs.org?]http://www.Pbs.org?[/url] You know how the doc ends? ” …Mr.Berlusconi position is dangerous for western democracy….” said by american journalists and experts. Mr.berlusconi, what a coincidence, has put pressure on UE Commisions to not let Mr.Monti to be confirmed at the haed of UE Antitrust Commision….coincidences? Two days ago came out in the news that Italian Embassy in Oslo, Norway, has put pressure on Norwegian governament to not let the american documentary “Citizen B,,,” be presented at the International Documentary Film Festival held there.
So I wonder why we should still talk about Microsoft and if UE was right or not, the answer is clear and I’m very surprised to see that there are many that have doubt about that, unless they are part of the restricted lobby of monopolist or they don’t want or are lazy to find the real informations.
Finally, I think that is our interest as citizen, workers to have less monopoly in our democracies (if they still are…) and more REAL competition. It’s worth for our pockets, for the quality and for more choice.
I just wanna end with a phrase from a famous american economist: ” …if in a market there is a monoploy, it’s better for the people that is a state or pubblic monopoly.”
Again, take care and look for the real informations on the net, the rest is propaganda.
pier
Bible quotes are fair game, if you expand their specific meaning. In the case of (Mr, Ms. Mrs, ?) Aryugaetu, all that is quoted is quotes. Do the research, you’ll get the facts.
From: Hywel – Mar 31, 04 | 12:32 pm
Yes. It’s the way WMP and IE are part of the OS that’s the problem. OS-X also has Quicktime as an intrinsic part of the OS, kust like Audio Units or Cocoa or whatever. The difference is that Quicktime Player, iTunes, Fincal Cut, iMovie are all applications that USE quicktime, and third party developers can also quicktime should they want to.
So Windows Media being part of the OS, providing some facilities to developers is not a problem. Being a closed system that developers don’t know about and can’t create competing products on IS a problem.
What’s is really “immoral” is the US letting Microsoft get away with antitrust violations by abusing its monopoly power against rivals and consumer freedom. That’s a good description of “immoral”. At least the EU had the guts to take on Microsoft and try to bring about an effective resolution. It’s too bad our own US gov’t can’t do the same!
Hmm. I wonder if that dude has a lot of stock tied up in Microsoft.
Anyone who starts quoting the Bible (unless there trying to make a sarcastic point. Thanks Aryugaetu.) loses there credibility immediately.
Whenever I hear someone quote a Bible passage, all I hear is “I can’t think for myself, I can barely think at all.”
So many sheep in this world… It’s sad.
**Three. Internet Explorer. Now if that isn’t a joke, I don’t know what is. How could it be fair to Netscape, a company whose main stream of revenue was its sales of its browser, be forced into minority share and eventual sale of itself because MS used its advantage of being a monopoly to make the same software and give it away for free calling it “essential.” That is hogwash.***
Netscrape deserved to die. I was a crappy ass browser..
And i would call any browser essential.