M$, Repeat Offender, Needs a Hefty Fine or Worse. at Robert Pogson

M$ promised to offer users choice of browser but they broke their word, 28 million times. No fine is too large, EU Commission. Hammer them!

“Any fines for Microsoft may take into account repeat offenses, Almunia said in July in a reference to the EU’s 2008 penalty for the company’s failure to obey an earlier EU decision. That ruling also ordered it to provide information to software developers to make compatible products. EU antitrust fines are usually capped at 10 percent of yearly revenue.”

Just a glitch? No way. M$ does everything with great deliberation. They leave nothing to chance. I would bet they calculated the likely fine from the EU against the benefits of another few years of lock-in. They need 28 million fines, a banning from the EU. Next time a policeman pulls you over for speeding, try telling him you forgot to pay the previous fine… In some jurisdictions your driving privileges would be suspended. So should M$’s, for a year or two.

see Microsoft Said to Face EU Antitrust Complaint on Browser Choice – Bloomberg.

My Mission

My observations and opinions about IT are based on 40 years of use in science and technology and lately, in education. I like IT that is fast, cost-effective and reliable. I do not care whether my solution is the same as yours. I like to think for myself.

My first use of GNU/Linux in 2001 was so remarkably better than what I had been using, I feel it is important work to share GNU/Linux with the world. I have been blessed by working in schools where students and school systems have benefited by good, modular software easily installed in most systems.

I have shown GNU/Linux to thousands of students and hundreds of teachers over the years and will continue in some way doing that until I die in spite of the opposition.

6 Responses to “M$, Repeat Offender, Needs a Hefty Fine or Worse.”

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1 Ivan Sep 19th, 2012 at 6:19 pm

So Europeans aren’t smart enough to install other browsers or change default settings?

Seems condescending, Bob.
2 dougman Sep 19th, 2012 at 8:07 pm

Ivan the terrible.

M$ made a promise to the EU court and they broke that promise, so now they must pay. Technical error’s do not work in the court system.

If you were brought into court for not cutting your lawn, then fined heavily and the judge made you promise under oath to keep it mowed, then you subsequently decided to renege on your earlier commitments and tell the judge and court system to go pound sand. What do you think should happen?

For M$ to blame it on a glitch is laughable; I say M$ should be banned from the EU for 1-year and fined 10x the earlier penalty.

Obviously, the earlier penalty was not large enough and M$ did not learn a painful enough lesson.
3 ch Sep 19th, 2012 at 11:51 pm

WTF? Windows didn’t show the silly browser selector, and only after more than a year someone noticed?

Case closed.
4 kozmcrae Sep 20th, 2012 at 10:58 am

ch wrote:

“WTF? Windows didn’t show the silly browser selector, and only after more than a year someone noticed?”

“Silly” browser selector? That is how Microsoft and their Cult followers think of fair play, silly. You can’t help yourself ch. Your arrogance shines through.
5 JR Sep 20th, 2012 at 11:12 am

A bit dated but maybe worth a read.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_IBM#1969:_Antitrust.2C_the_Unbundling_of_software_and_services

http://www-rohan.sdsu.edu/faculty/giftfire/ibm.html
6 dougman Sep 20th, 2012 at 11:23 am

The EU knew what M$ was doing, they gave them 356-days to correct the “glitch”. Once it became apparent that M$ was not going fix it, the EU acted in due course.