Microsoft in trouble
Now, Microsoft seems to have some real trouble. Antitrust ruling could mean $3bn fine for Microsoft.
Made in European Union
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Final decision is expected next week.
Made in European Union
.Final decision is expected next week.
Comments
Originally posted by PB
Now, Microsoft seems to have some real trouble. Antitrust ruling could mean $3bn fine for Microsoft.
Made in European Union
Final decision is expected next week.
What gets me is that Apple could also be sued for bundling Safari and QuickTime, or even iTunes and the Music Store, with Mac OS X, in the nae of antitrust...
Hang on, Apple isn't a monopolist, so this doesn't apply to them...
(Makes one wonder). m.
Originally posted by Merovingian
What gets me is that Apple could also be sued for bundling Safari and QuickTime, or even iTunes and the Music Store, with Mac OS X, in the nae of antitrust...
Hang on, Apple isn't a monopolist, so this doesn't apply to them...
(Makes one wonder). m.
No it doesn't. Apple is not a monopoly in the computer industry. They are a monopoly on the Mac platform, but if you break things down that finely, everything is eventually a monopoly. Luckily the courts don't do that.
Originally posted by Merovingian
What gets me is that Apple could also be sued for bundling Safari and QuickTime, or even iTunes and the Music Store, with Mac OS X, in the nae of antitrust...
Hang on, Apple isn't a monopolist, so this doesn't apply to them...
Antitrust law is not about breaking monopolies. There's nothing wrong with monopolies per se as far as (U.S.) law is concered. They just have to continue acting as if they were still selling into a market. The law steps in when a company with a monopoly starts abusing its control of a market.
The tech press doesn't talk about it much (for fear of pissing off MS, which ironically strengthens my point) but Microsoft has had a chilling effect on the industry. During the dot-com bubble, VCs wouldn't fund projects that looked too good, because they were afraid that MS would gut the company of its talent and then destroy it. They have a long history of doing that. Maybe, if it weren't for MS casting its long shadow over the industry, the dot-com thing could have been something other than a bubble...
Maybe, if it weren't for MS casting its long shadow over the industry, the dot-com thing could have been something other than a bubble...
Well that, and not giving so much money to startups whose only business plan was to buy more aeron chairs.
Originally posted by Merovingian
What gets me is that Apple could also be sued for bundling Safari and QuickTime, or even iTunes and the Music Store, with Mac OS X, in the nae of antitrust...
Hang on, Apple isn't a monopolist, so this doesn't apply to them...
(Makes one wonder). m.
i run os X...i can throw away safari, i can throw away quicktime, i can throw away iTunes and never use the music store...there are aps to use with X...microsoft made IE part of windows so it can't be thrown out
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Has MS abused its power? It appears quite clear that it has.
Some of the typical means that a monopolist will use include "dumping" and "tying".
Dumping is selling a product below what it costs to make in order to drive competition out of business. Tying is making the sale of one (monopoly) product contingent upon another (that the monopolist wishes to dominates ITS new market).
MS is probably guilty of both of these with IE.
Exclusion is something else a monopoly can do...denying someone the right to sell a competing product. This is almost the reverse of "tying". Tying says "if you want to buy Windows, you must also buy IE." Exclusion says, "you cannot buy windows if you buy Netscape Naviagtor."
Now...take this to media players...office suites...database applications...etc.
Microsoft should really take a leaf out of apple's books, If MS made software that was compatible with other OSes, then the user would simply be able to choose what platform, OS thay want to use and they wouldnt be in the situation thay are in now. if you buy a car, you know you can stop at any petrol station for fuel, they all have a steering wheel and you can drive them all on any road, computers shoudn't be any different.
Originally posted by PB
Now, Microsoft seems to have some real trouble. Antitrust ruling could mean $3bn fine for Microsoft.
Made in European Union
Final decision is expected next week.
it COULD mean 3 billion but i think it will be more in the range of 200 million ... :-(
Originally posted by Merovingian
What gets me is that Apple could also be sued for bundling Safari and QuickTime, or even iTunes and the Music Store, with Mac OS X, in the nae of antitrust...
Hang on, Apple isn't a monopolist, so this doesn't apply to them...
(Makes one wonder). m.
isn't this because of the way how the media player is integrated into the operating system - in a way that other competitors can't integrate their own player-software because of missing documentation or even worse a technique that doesn't allow this?
Originally posted by Krassy
isn't this because of the way how the media player is integrated into the operating system - in a way that other competitors can't integrate their own player-software because of missing documentation or even worse a technique that doesn't allow this?
that's the spark of it, if MS wasn't in the running for the next format of DVD's this probably wouldnt of arisen
i run os X...i can throw away safari, i can throw away quicktime, i can throw away iTunes and never use the music store...there are aps to use with X...microsoft made IE part of windows so it can't be thrown out
Exactly. Go ahead and try to to not have IE...Yeah. Great part about that is: it's blatantly illegal. Has been since Windows 98 when a judge ordered MS to cut IE out of Windows. Look at how our democracy worked. I wonder what Russia is doing with this issue. Putin to Microsoft Russia: Throw them in the gulag!!!
As for my take...
The EU should really make an example of Microsoft, and hopefully set a standard that makes other manufacturers of software, (or indeed anything), should adhere to. The industry would be better off.
I like the "tying" and "dumping" explanation. It explains the situation quite well. Also, the differentiation to what MS and Apple do with their own software bundling was stated, which has opened my eyes a bit. Apple do indeed support Open Source, with many of their projects, and also support standards, (like web standards in Safari).
Also, it is true that I can delete Safari, iLife, or QuickTime, without (much) problem, while Windows users cannot rid themselves of the IE plague on their systems. For this alone, I hope MS gets a kick in the arse. m.
source
Edited to remove broken link. Check CBS Marketwatch's website for story tonight. cbs.marketwatch.com
Originally posted by Crusader
Make M$ pay!!!
Here we go!
Originally posted by PB
Here we go!
Lets hope that by the time MS has done with its appeal the Euro will be worth double of what it is today
Now I guess they should have banned me rather than just shut off posting priviledges, because kickaha and Amorph definitely aren't going to like being called to task when they thought they had it all ignored *cough* *cough* I mean under control. Just a couple o' tools.
Don't worry, as soon as my work resetting my posts is done I'll disappear forever.