“Microsoft Corp. put itself on a collision course with European Union authorities on Wednesday in a dispute over the powers of a trustee who is to make sure the software giant stops violating antitrust law,” David Lawsky reports for Reuters. “The EU executive Commission has ruled that Microsoft abused its monopoly on computer software and told it to change its business practices. A trustee was supposed to monitor that the company lived up to this ruling.”
“But the Commission said Microsoft’s proposal for the trustee was unacceptable, a charge the company rejects. ‘We have officially informed Microsoft that their proposal on the monitoring trustee is not acceptable,’ Commission spokesman Jonathan Todd said. ‘Essentially they wished to have a veto on what issues the monitoring trustee could examine.’ Microsoft immediately rejected the Commission’s interpretation of its own decision,” Lawsky reports.
“At this point, the two sides do not even agree on whether they are close to an agreement. Microsoft said the two sides are ‘very close,’ while a Commission official said Wednesday’s notice would never be issued if the two positions were close,” Lawsky reports. “That decision also ordered Microsoft to make a copy of Windows available to computer makers without its Windows Media Player, so computers makers could choose alternative audio-visual software such as RealNetworks Real Player or Apple Computer’s Quicktime.”
Full article here.
You’ve got to hand it to the EU, for all that I disagree with them on so many issues, they’re stand against the Microsoft hegemeny is laudable. Let’s hope heavier fines and levies are down the line to keep MS in check!
Are those guys still in business? I thought the U.S. DoJ won a landmark antitrust case against them, which stood up on appeal with a unanimous appeals ruling. I thought Microsoft was going to be forced to undergo structural changes to punish it for numerous egregious Sherman Act violations.
Oh yeah, Bush. Now I remember. Free markets and public interest be damned, Bush will stop an nothing to help his campaign contributors and protect monopolists, polluters, military contractors, medical insurers, and everybody else that the public hates.
Lucky Microsoft!
So, Old Europe – for all of its many failings – still recognises that a company convicted of effectively bullying and cheating both its customers and allies is unlikely to change and stands up for real innovation and market diversity, even when the beneficiaries are likely to be other American companies.
Whereas various elements of the US Federal Government – allegedly a champion of competition and free trade – just rolled over and let M$ tickle its well-fed belly and said “thanks for the donations and creating an operating system with so many holes that it makes a colander look like a large block of concrete”.
I almost can’t describe the level of irony…
2 Thoughts and a wish
1 Arrogance- thy name is Micro$oftopoly
2 The EU could always “pull the plug” on M$ if they get too heavy handed. My suggestion is an outright ban on the sale of Microsoft software and services in the EU until Redmond develops some mental clarity. M$ thinks they can buy or bully their way out of this one but US companies are not very popular on the Planet Europa right now.
So is it possible that MS is looking to push the EU so far that the EU does ban MS products? At that point, it’s doubtful that MS customers are going to say “Hey, I’ll just switch to Apple or Linux.” Rather,wouldn’t it be more likely that they would petition the EU to get MS back in their lives. That sounds like MS strategy.
What I like about the EU is that they actually have the balls to stand up to Microsoft and take them to task on the so many antitrust violations MS is guilty of (something that the US failed to do effectively).
Problem solved soon…Microsoft must increase their payoffs and under the table donations to EU council members…don´t they understand Europeans???
President Bush is the president. I think the government dropped the ball by not breaking up MS. Two unrelated events.
To One of the majority,
You are incorrect. If you look at the facts. The government was ready to do some real major damage fines and even force Microsoft to break up into smaller companies if they did not change their ways.
Then the Bush Administration was elect in…
?
…Then the Bush Administration was elect in…
Of course we know that you meant ‘appointed’…
Absolutely right, majority… don’t sweat it – there are those out there on both sides of the American political aisle that blame the president (whomever he may be at the time) for everything they find distasteful in life. It’s not correct, just easy.
Let’s be real. M$ is as Republican as Apple is Democrat. There is no other explanation for the fact that M$ dictates policies to Washington since Bush came into office. Anything else is moot.
“The government was ready to do some real major damage fines and even force Microsoft to break up into smaller companies if they did not change their ways…”
Yes, yes. Before the election, the govt was poised to invent fuel cell cars for the masses, sign the Kyoto ‘Chicken Little’ Treaty, break up M$, and outlaw really, really mean people. Then that awful Bush was elected by the evil Red-Staters, defying the will of Europeans and the sainted American political minority.
Any one want to lay odds on the EU’s ability to bring M$ to its knees? Anyone?
While I applaud the EU position as correct, we all know that there will be a compromise. Let’s be realistic, Microsoft is too entrenched to be banned. Nor should it. It should just comply with the law. Why, if only the State Department had any balls [or political will], this issue would have been dealt with a few years ago
MCCFR:
Can’t you see the irony in your comment about ‘old Europe’ as you put it? It’s boring and was insulting when Rumsfeld said it. You’ll have to get used to the idea that the EU is bigger that the US [pop. over 400 million], and – for right now anyhow – the only thing stopping the US from going to war with Iran.
How to dismantle M$?
As for the Apple = Democrat theory… let’s check that out:
Democrats want everything in America to be controlled from Washington (as does Microsoft)
Microsoft is always coming up with another inefficient program that tries to do everything, and ends up doing nothing very well (as do Democrats)
Democratic social programs are the model of inefficiency, and would be completely ignored if people had (or knew they had) another choice available to them. (just like M$ programs)
Despite all the vulnerabilities and avenues for misuse in their vast programs, and despite their constant exploitation, Democrats still call them successes and charge the public over and over for their upkeep, while giving only lip service to closing the security holes. (as does M$)
I’m not seeing your point…
hillbilly:
you’re pseudonym says it all really. Some thoughts for you:
All ten of the top ten states that get the most federal dollars and pay the least… are red states. And eight of the ten states that receive the least and pay the most? They’re blue states. So my federal tax dollars are paying for people with the blinkered mindset of ‘hillbilly’. Nice.
The lowest divorce rate? It’s Massachusetts, a blue state and the center of the gay marriage universe. How about this: 9 of the 10 lowest divorce rates are blue states and most are in the Northeast, where our values suck so bad. And where are the highest divorce rates? The entire top 10 are red states.
But two guys making out is going to ruin marriage (according to most red staters)? Oh, but that’s ok because you go to church, right? I mean you do, right? Cause we get to hear about it every election year. Yes, we’re fascinated by how you get up every Sunday morning and sing, and then you’re towers of moral superiority. Maybe us liberal northerners don’t talk about religion as much as you because we’re not so busy sinning. Ever think of that? No, you’re too busy erecting giant stone tablets of the Ten Commandments in buildings paid for by us northeast Liberals.
And who has the highest murder rates in the nation? It ain’t us up here in the North: top five murder states – Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee and South Carolina – hillbily red states.
Have fun…
It would seem that having a government and a prime minister/president democratically run the country however badly is a necessary evil of living in a free and capitalist world.
Charlie!
So glad to see that I’ve angered a statistician! Why, I would think that as a good Blue-Stater, you’d be more than happy to pay a little more for us less-fortunate, poorly-educated, Bible-thumpin’ inbreds out here. After all, “from each according to his talents – to each according to his needs…” right? According to good socialist theory, there should be no resentment whatsoever on your part at the redistribution of your hard-earned dollars through taxation. It’s your duty as a good citizen. Your elected officials know better than you do, silly! And to devote two out of six paragraphs of your fiery retort to a straw-man argument about gay marriage is a little disengenuous as I was making an economic argument, but that may just be my ‘blinkered mindset’. You have fun, too…
At least the Europeans aren’t afraid of Microsoft. Hey Uncle Sam it’s time for you to do the same….. or is Bush on Bill’s payroll?
Sone fun movies, veracity in government
http://thewebfairy.com/911/pentagon/27_1-mcintyre.swf
http://home.comcast.net/~fetal/pentagon.swf
http://play.rbn.com/?url=demnow/demnow/demand/2005/march/video/dnB20050321a.rm&proto=rtsp&start=12:50
He replaced Clinton’s DoJ with his own chosen people. It’s NOT coincidence that the DoJ rolled over for Microsoft when the new people came in.
It’s exactly what MS was hoping would happen if they stalled long enough and gave enough money to the republicans.
Corporations came to power when Bush became president despite earning fewer votes than Gore. Sad but true. And yet many people lap it up like good little sheep… talk about what’s “easy”…
Yo!, people, this thread is about Europe and Microsoft´s business practices in EUROPE – educate yourself – there is more to the world than everything is about the U.S. and U.S. politics and what happens in the U.S.
Sheesh! Broaden your horizons take a trip outside of your state and your country. Its a big interesting world out there.
Bush did not vacate the decision against M$ – a federal appeals court did after unceremoniously tossing Judge Jackson (kind of like Judge Judy) out on his ass for engaging in “impermissible ex parte contacts by holding secret interviews with members of the media”. Things just don’t become true by saying them over and over again.
Folks, I’m a mac-head through and through, but I want to see Macs become dominant through an understanding by the public that macs are more elegant, well-designed machines… not by fiat or court order. If the fight is longer and the competition the most powerful company in the world, the sweeter the victory for our favorite fruit company.
Charlie: I am an Old European, in as much as I’m British but I believe in the values of society rather than the “winner takes all” ethos that still scars both modern (i.e. post-Thatcherite) Britain and (post-Reagan) USA.
By politics, I am what would be termed a Social Democrat – slightly to the left of centre, keen on social provision for health and education and relatively ambivalent to state intervention in business (i.e. only when a utility should be run for the public good – such as railways or water).
If Rumsfeld seeks to insult by usage of the Old Europe tag, let him – anyone who can make such tortuous use of the English language (“there are things we know that we don’t know”, etc.) is hardly someone I’m going to allow myself to be bothered by.
Like I said, Europe has it’s faults (an inability to balance the books or even get the books audited successfully being just two) – but at least, for the most part, religion and state are kept separate, the civil service is professional (as opposed to loaded with political appointees) and the law is not a fluid thing that alters just because a new Chief Executuve gets elected.
Flame away…
hillbilly: Flame bait. Works every time with crackers. Oh and by the way, if you’re going to use big words, you should know how to spell it: ‘disingenuous’ is the correct way.
MCCFR:
I was trying to be ironic. I too am from ‘old’ Europe. Living in the US allows me to see the sheer breathtaking hypocrisy of hillbilly and his ill-informed kind close up.
They aren’t always so funny…. but they are almost always blinkered.
While I think it is great that the EC is giving one to M$ and doing what should have been done in the US…
I can’t help thinking what would have happened if M$ had been a French company?
Would the EC then had the balls to bite on of it’s own OR would French M$ employees be barracking ports and burning truckloads of competiting computers in protest?
Spelling correction taken with good spirit! Name-calling is also appreciated – it’s the sign of an exhausted argument…
If you dont like windows media player, dont f’ing use it. this wont change anything in Europe. As if anything ever does.
Neil: the EU has regularly dealt even-handedly with companies like Air France and Olympic Airways that it has deemed are in receipt of illegal state subsidies. Even non-state airlines like RyanAir have been effectively penalised as state-owned regional airports around Europe have been prevented from “subsidising” landing fees.
As for monopoly-oriented enquiries revolving around “abuse of market dominance”, the simple answer is “Who Knows??”. It is very difficult to think of such a case involving a European company, simply because the competition authorities (either at the nation-state level or the EU level) regularly prevent groups of companies from accreting into monopolies.
Hey, there’s no socialist like an old world socialist, especially the democratic kind – two wolves and a sheep voting on what’s for supper.
Europe vs. US
Blah blah blah blah blah.
Yawn.
I don’t think the U.S. Justice Department is scared of Microsoft. I just think they are woefully ignorant on the isssue. The overwhelmingly majority of Windows users just don’t get it, otherwise they wouldn’t be WIndows users in the first place. But I think all would have been fine but for that judge that said too much (I forgot what he said now), and this gave MS an opening for an appeal. The judge was on the right track, but then he screwed up. Also, at the time, the economy was in the middle of Bill Clinton’s recession and they were concerned as to what it would do to the economy if you broke up MS. I think it would have been good medicine myself, but as I said, few people really get the issue.
We have a Micros**t against the EU article.
The Bush haters manage to twist it again into yet another ‘it’s all W’s fault’ philippic. (Look it up)
Boring and predictable.
Last post?
Another waste of time dicussing The Evil Empire.
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