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#1 | Link |
Registered User
Join Date: Nov 2001
Posts: 9,770
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Micro$oft punished for 500 Million €/$ by EU
The European Commission (maybe the highest institution of the European Union) punished m$ to pay a 500 million € (over the thumb thats the same value in $
![]() thats the highest value ever used by the commission mainly thats the case because of m$ windows media player instelled by default on all windows systems (used to push its wm9 crap formats, in a more and more important market) read more (german) now we have it from the official side what type of company m$ is. i hope this will soil their reputation and help open source alternatives they deserve it!!! and my personal opinion ![]() dont use the windows media formats!!!
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Between the weak and the strong one it is the freedom which oppresses and the law that liberates (Jean Jacques Rousseau) I know, that I know nothing (Socrates) MPEG-4 ASP FAQ | AVC/H.264 FAQ | AAC FAQ | MP4 FAQ | MP4Menu stores DVD Menus in MP4 (guide) Ogg Theora | Ogg Vorbis use WM9 today and get Micro$oft controlling the A/V market tomorrow for free |
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#4 | Link | |
Senior n00b
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Italy
Posts: 446
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Re: Micro$oft punished for 500 Million ?/$ by EU
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#5 | Link | |||
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Join Date: Nov 2001
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![]() they do this for good reasons (or said the other way round, the reasons why m$ can be bashed are worth 500.000.000 € ![]() Quote:
you cant say that there is ONE highest institution in any state, but if you make a list, its maybe the commission, the court, the council and the parliament
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Between the weak and the strong one it is the freedom which oppresses and the law that liberates (Jean Jacques Rousseau) I know, that I know nothing (Socrates) MPEG-4 ASP FAQ | AVC/H.264 FAQ | AAC FAQ | MP4 FAQ | MP4Menu stores DVD Menus in MP4 (guide) Ogg Theora | Ogg Vorbis use WM9 today and get Micro$oft controlling the A/V market tomorrow for free |
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#6 | Link |
Hi Everyone
Join Date: May 2003
Location: The Two Rivers
Posts: 762
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well the point is the european commission doesnt enforce a half a billion penalty because they love bashing m$, or have an "anit-micro$oft" attidude
Its a money grab, pure and simple. The proof will be when you discover none of the affected customers will be compensated.
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#7 | Link | |
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the decision of the commission has nothing directly to do with affected customers the commission is not a court where mistreated customers can sue on getting money back (of course they can still do this at the European Court of Justice or in their home countries, maybe with success) the commission decides whether or not a company violates the european antitrust law and if thats the case it has to take steps to change this, not less not more
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Between the weak and the strong one it is the freedom which oppresses and the law that liberates (Jean Jacques Rousseau) I know, that I know nothing (Socrates) MPEG-4 ASP FAQ | AVC/H.264 FAQ | AAC FAQ | MP4 FAQ | MP4Menu stores DVD Menus in MP4 (guide) Ogg Theora | Ogg Vorbis use WM9 today and get Micro$oft controlling the A/V market tomorrow for free Last edited by bond; 24th March 2004 at 14:34. |
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#9 | Link |
retired developer
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: Canada
Posts: 8,978
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What'S the big deal by bundeling WMP with windows? They do worse things!, like bundeling windows with every PC
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#10 | Link | ||
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Join Date: Nov 2001
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"an example of a more general business model" "foreclosing the market to competitors" "controlling markets" "reducing consumer choice" my conclusion: dont use the windows media formats! use, point to and support the alternatives!
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Between the weak and the strong one it is the freedom which oppresses and the law that liberates (Jean Jacques Rousseau) I know, that I know nothing (Socrates) MPEG-4 ASP FAQ | AVC/H.264 FAQ | AAC FAQ | MP4 FAQ | MP4Menu stores DVD Menus in MP4 (guide) Ogg Theora | Ogg Vorbis use WM9 today and get Micro$oft controlling the A/V market tomorrow for free Last edited by bond; 21st April 2004 at 09:39. |
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#11 | Link |
Hi Everyone
Join Date: May 2003
Location: The Two Rivers
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No Bond I am not mixing things up. If the true end result was forcing a seperation of the media player, there would have been a different penalty. Microsoft can write this off as a cost of doing business until they get the proper bribe into the proper pocket or political party coffer.
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#12 | Link |
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Join Date: Jan 2002
Posts: 1,729
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What I find a definite outrage with the WMP bundling, is that in Windows XP SP1, though you do actually have a choosing applet thingie for app association (1st or 3rd party), when you deselect WMP, IT WILL STILL BE ASSOCIATED TO FILETYPES until you deselect all the filetypes FROM WITHIN WMP ITSELF! For some weird reason WMP goes around standard filetype association that other apps can control. What's even worse is I have to accept some license agreement that I don't even want to accept (though in my country clickthrough license agreements aren't lawfully valid), to access the app, so I can disable the file accosiations.
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#13 | Link | |
Registered User
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Barcelona
Posts: 68
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Re: Micro$oft punished for 500 Million €/$ by EU
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#14 | Link |
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Join Date: Jan 2004
Posts: 38
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Sorry I just don't agree with this Microsoft bashing.
So what if they are a monopoly it's their competitors and the various governments involved faults for letting them get like that in the first place. Would you expect Coca-Cola to include a can of Pepsi in every 6 pack they sell, or course not. Microsoft should be able to include whatever software they like and it's up to us the consumer not to buy it if we don't approve. As for the $500million fin, well the EU have just decided to milk the Cash Cow rather than tackle some real issues. |
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#16 | Link | |
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Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: In a house.
Posts: 663
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It is not the competitor's fault MS is a monopoly - MS drove them under using illegal tactics. They have been found guilty of illegal business tactics several times. It can be argued it is the government's fault for not making the punishment fit the crime when MS keeps losing in court. The current DOJ settlement is a good example. Breaking MS up would have been a good start to fixing the problem - the settlement wasn't even a slap on the wrist. MS is worse today than when they lost to the DOJ a couple years ago. The EC is trying to do better than the US did - they gave a pretty big fine (not big to MS, but I don't think you'd get higher), and forcing MS to change how they distribute Windows and WMP. It's not much, but it's better than the stupid DOJ was willing to do to a convicted criminal enterprise. They need to go back to the original punishment - breaking up MS based on its divisions. It worked for AT&T/Bell, so it should work for MS. Also throw the top brass at MS in prison for a few years. How many other executives can plot to destroy the lifes of competitors, carry out those plots, lie in court, bribe the US government, and get away with it scot-free? |
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#17 | Link | |||
Registered User
Join Date: Nov 2001
Posts: 9,770
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the decision is not about helping mistreated users, its about helping mistreated competitors (which indirectly affects us users again, as when there are monopolies we have less product choice, higher prices, less innovations...) also m$ isnt forced to include any competitors products into their software, the decision is about forbidding m$ to exclude/discriminate competitors products right from the start Quote:
m$ doesnt only have to pay the fine, it also has to offer windows without the media player and open important parts of their OS, used protocols/apis, so that their competitors get the possibility to produce products which can directly interoperate with windows, which wasnt the case till now guys, take some law and economics courses at your university and you will better understand what this decision really means and what a big step this is
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Between the weak and the strong one it is the freedom which oppresses and the law that liberates (Jean Jacques Rousseau) I know, that I know nothing (Socrates) MPEG-4 ASP FAQ | AVC/H.264 FAQ | AAC FAQ | MP4 FAQ | MP4Menu stores DVD Menus in MP4 (guide) Ogg Theora | Ogg Vorbis use WM9 today and get Micro$oft controlling the A/V market tomorrow for free Last edited by bond; 24th March 2004 at 21:18. |
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#18 | Link | |
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Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: In a house.
Posts: 663
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"You need three different spec sheets? That'll be $150,000." MS is arguing to the DOJ that virtually no one is buying their $50,000 API specifications proving that no one needs them, so they should be allowed to make them secret again. |
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#19 | Link | |
Registered User
Join Date: Nov 2001
Posts: 9,770
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Quote:
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Between the weak and the strong one it is the freedom which oppresses and the law that liberates (Jean Jacques Rousseau) I know, that I know nothing (Socrates) MPEG-4 ASP FAQ | AVC/H.264 FAQ | AAC FAQ | MP4 FAQ | MP4Menu stores DVD Menus in MP4 (guide) Ogg Theora | Ogg Vorbis use WM9 today and get Micro$oft controlling the A/V market tomorrow for free |
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