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[News] EU takes legal action against Microsoft, tooANN.lu
Posted on 03-Aug-2000 16:02 GMT by Teemu I. Yliselä10 comments
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Acting on a complaint from Sun Microsystems, the European Union has issued a formal legal warning to Microsoft claiming that it has "abused its power to gain an edge in the market for server software". Should Microsoft lose this trial, they'll be facing a penalty in the form of fines. Read the BBC news story.

EU takes legal action against Microsoft, too : Comment 1 of 10ANN.lu
Posted by Teemu I. Yliselä on 02-Aug-2000 22:00 GMT
It appears that Microsoft could avoid the fines by opening up parts of its technology (namely Windows) to competitors. It remains to be seen whether they prefer doing this or coughing out the cash.
EU takes legal action against Microsoft, too : Comment 2 of 10ANN.lu
Posted by Ben Hermans/Hyperion on 02-Aug-2000 22:00 GMT
In reply to Comment 1 (Teemu I. Yliselä):
I think you misunderstand EC competition law here:
the amount they would need to pay is a FINE. It's not like they can pay it and continue with their practises.
They need to pay it and stop their practises.
Moreover, wants it is found that they were violating EC competition law, they can be sued for damages by their competitors on the basis of this finding ... in any court in the EC.
EC competition law is far less primitive than the Sherman Act in the US.
EU takes legal action against Microsoft, too : Comment 3 of 10ANN.lu
Posted by michael jantzen on 03-Aug-2000 22:00 GMT
In reply to Comment 2 (Ben Hermans/Hyperion):
Can't the US Department of Justice make a company do those same things?
EU takes legal action against Microsoft, too : Comment 4 of 10ANN.lu
Posted by XDelusion on 03-Aug-2000 22:00 GMT
Look I hate Microshaft just as much as any sane minded person, but
really, what are they doing that is so wrong? They, like all companies
should have the freedom to produce whatever type of software they please,
be it an OS with integrated Browser or whatever. Also I do not understand
this European law against not sharing company secrets. Is that for real!?
And if so...
...Why, what for, I don't comprehend.
Anyhow, if Microsoft has the market, well it is only because of two reasons.
A: Microsoft came and provided a GUI for the only cheap computer on the market
during the late 80's Early 90's, thus everyone shifted to save money. They did not care that it was not multi-tasking, all they wanted was something cheaper
than an Amiga or Mac, and something easy to use, thus Windows was born.
B: It is because Microshaft has continued to hold the market since Amiga, and Mac did not learn from there mistakes quick enough, and because of this, Microshaft now has total software dominion. So now, these people who care less about multi-tasking, and what not, have not only grown accustomed to this nightmare piece of software, but they also fear leaving it behind because they will no longer be able to just goto the store and support there computer, nor will they be able to use any of the software they already own. Now to these people when you offer them a choice between something that is technically superior, and has nill support, or something that is slow, and crappy to be blunt, they will pick the latter because it has support.
On the other hand, if these people would have been able to afford Amiga back in the day, they would have used something better, and may not be so brain dead today, because like us, they would have a fond memory of computers when using them was like a dose of heaven, a tranquil experience. But they have not, and you can not fully expect them to pay money to just try or take a chance on something they have no idea about.
Now if it was possible for something to be illegal for being technologincally crappy, then Microshaft would be out the door in a second flat. There crime...
Forcing people to invest into newer, faster, larger, hardware every so many months to keep up with the insane demands of there tyrant leader of the OS kingdom. Things should never turned out this way... ..sigh.. :O/
I am sorry I did not put all my money into this 3DFX/Athalon set up just so I could use the latest over-bloated version of Winblows, or there latest Word Processor, ect. I bought it for games, and multimedia manipulation, the rest that stuff can still be done just fine, and at a great speed on an aged computer, if only it was not for people who either don't know how to code effiantly, or just don't care cause people are stuck, they have no choice, they don't have to worry about a technological revolution from a user base made up of people who no nothing of technical babble or the world of computers preceeding them. They are just paid off so to say, by gobs and gobs of bloated softs available at nearly all local retail stores. Hell even Taco Bell sports Winblows compatable games for the kids...
My point: In the end this revolution is going to have to be won with Skill, Devotion, and Tact.
EU takes legal action against Microsoft, too : Comment 5 of 10ANN.lu
Posted by Teemu I. Yliselä on 03-Aug-2000 22:00 GMT
In reply to Comment 2 (Ben Hermans/Hyperion):
OK, thanks for clearing this up. I'm no legal expert, so maybe I shouldn't be reading too much into these news stories...
EU takes legal action against Microsoft, too : Comment 6 of 10ANN.lu
Posted by Matthew Wakeling on 03-Aug-2000 22:00 GMT
Those who do not understand Unix are condemned to reinvent it, poorly.
UTC has been around for ages, why are they creating this GET thing?
NTP has been around for ages for updating the time on a computer. If this was used properly by Windows machines, there wouldn't be the need to open up ridiculous security holes.
My computers all keep their clocks within a few milliseconds of UTC automatically. Every computer should do that.
EU takes legal action against Microsoft, too : Comment 7 of 10ANN.lu
Posted by Ben Hermans/Hyperion on 03-Aug-2000 22:00 GMT
In reply to Comment 4 (XDelusion):
Argh, there is NO EC law against not sharing your company secrets.
Basically EC competition law imposes a higher burden of care on companies that have a dominant position in the market.
What Microsoft is doing is discriminating between developers who develop for their platform by releasing some key information to some and withholding it from others. This results in the distortion of competition because some companies have a competitive edge thanks to the discrimination from Microsoft.
If you are in a dominant position in Europe, such discrimination can under some circumstances be considered as an abuse of dominant market-position.
That's what this is all about.
EU takes legal action against Microsoft, too : Comment 8 of 10ANN.lu
Posted by XDelusion on 04-Aug-2000 22:00 GMT
In reply to Comment 7 (Ben Hermans/Hyperion):
Aghh thank you fro clearing this up for me!
EU takes legal action against Microsoft, too : Comment 9 of 10ANN.lu
Posted by Anonymous on 05-Aug-2000 22:00 GMT
In reply to Comment 4 (XDelusion):
So you're ready to hate something without even knowing *why* to hate? Shame on you. And you call yourself sane..
EU takes legal action against Microsoft, too : Comment 10 of 10ANN.lu
Posted by Anonymous on 05-Aug-2000 22:00 GMT
In reply to Comment 4 (XDelusion):
It's easy to win by cheat, arrogance, dictatory. They don't care 'multi-tasking' because their goal is only money and domination.
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