- Saturday, 11 July 2009
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Simply put, you can't change a company without changing its management - Andy Grove - Only the Paranoid Survive
Microsoft asks EU Commission to let it off the hook
MICROSOFT WHINGED to the European Union asking it to annul or reduce the $1.35 billion penalty levied against it by the EU Commission in February for antitrust violations.
The Vole's action came in the form of a lawsuit against the European Union that was filed back on May 9 but just recently published.
Its complaint is written in that peculiarly impenetrable dialect of legalese, heavily larded with law citations and documentation footnotes, that apparently is required for pursuing legal disputes lodged against Europe's high panjandrums in Brussels.
However, Groklaw's Sean Daly has translated Microsoft's multipart whine with an entirely admirable conciseness that we can't hope to surpass, so we won't try. Daly writes, "It's a blast from the past:
- 'We want clarity.'
- 'Our licenses were not expensive and everyone who wanted a license negotiated one.'
- 'Nobody listened to our paid experts.'
- 'The Commission's trustee got incriminating documents illegally.'
- 'Due process was not followed.'
- 'The fine is too heavy, since there was only a little partial problem with
the licenses'.
Of course, $1.35 billion is still an awful lot of money, enough to pay the Vole's lawyers until Hell freezes over. And we can't even begin to guess whether the European court will see any merit in Microsoft's complaint to warrant relief.
However, Microsoft remains subject to the antitrust jurisdiction and continuing oversight of the European Commission. It would be ironic if its squirming and wailing were to convince commissioner Neelie Kroes that it still hasn't learned its lesson about the need to respect the EU Commission's authority such that she decided to take more drastic action.
After all, not even Microsoft has a divine right to sell its software in European countries. µ
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If only Voledemort possessed the Tweak EU power toy.
If I were MS, I would pull all my products from the EU and not pay the fine. Screw-um. Let the EU run OS-X and Linux.
I doubt the EU Commission has the authority to stop Microsoft trading in the EU. Don't pay them Microsoft. The EU is becoming as bad as the US when it comes to freedom on all issues. We in Europe are being engulfed by a dark power.
Please MS leave Europe, then we will see many competitors and prices drop. And all will be better in software.

Of course with prices so high that should have already stimulated someone into making an OS to compete with MS.
This problem can be easily solved using the simple algorithm below (after all, Microsoft LIKES algorithms):

EC Monitors Microsoft for anticompetitive, government-manipulating, corporate-bully behaviour. If detected, enter following loop:
a) EC Levies another fine.
b) Does Microsoft contest fine? 
Yes - continue 
No - goto step (d).
c) EC doubles fine.
d) All fines paid? 
Yes - Exit loop and continue monitoring 
No - goto step (e)
e) Is Microsoft bankrupt yet?
Yes - Exit loop, the world is now a better place; richer Europeans dance in the streets and hug penguins.
No - goto step (a)

This algorithm would run on Linux, OSX, and also on Windows systems, so in any case would continue to work great if the EU government decides to pull the plug on Microsoft (the *right thing to do*, TM).
It's called open source, the idea of free software makes me weak in the knees and sick to my stomach. You must stop these evil doing ass holes Microsoft! 

Long live Vista!!
As a Canadian, I sincerely hope that that MS doesn't pay. In my wildest dreams, I don't expect MS to then say p*ss off, EU... because that would be more expensive than not paying. Still, a boy can dream.

Surely the next effort would be an import duty on MS products to recoup the unpaid fine. This will improve the spreadsheet comparison of MS vs. cheaper and better competition. Then maybe we can get out of this MS driven software morass that encumbers business worldwide. The EU has enough clout to drive this revolution. I, for one, hope that they have the political will to follow through.