• Microsoft has to pay €860 million EU fine
    42 replies, posted
[QUOTE]the fine that Microsoft has to pay for its abuse of its dominant market position and refusal to provide interoperability documentation. The 1998 case, brought by the Free Software Foundation Europe and the Samba Team and assisted by SIIA, ECIS, IBM, Red Hat and Oracle, was being appealed by Microsoft, which wanted a 2008 ruling and fine to be annulled and to have its costs paid by the Commission and others. Instead, it has been ordered to pay 95% of the commission's costs and 80% of the FSFE, Samba Team and the other intervenor's costs. The Associated Press reports that the penalty for non-compliance with a 2004 order has been trimmed by €39 million to €860 million. Microsoft was initially fined €497 million in 2004, then penalised €280 million in 2006 for non-compliance and again, another €899 million in 2008. The FSFE's President, Karsten Gerloff, said "The European Commission was right in being tough on Microsoft. We have worked hard to support the Commission in this case, and are extremely proud of the victory we've achieved." The Commission's Joaquin Almunia said the Commission felt the decision "fully vindicates" its action against Microsoft and that, thanks to that action, "a range of innovative products that would otherwise not have seen the light of day were introduced on the market". Microsoft said it was "disappointed with the Court's ruling," though it had already made provision for the fines and now has no outstanding issues with the EU Commission. Microsoft has not said whether it plans to appeal to the European Court of Justice, the highest court in Europe. The full judgement can be read on InfoCuria, the archive of Court of Justice case law.[/QUOTE] [url]http://www.h-online.com/open/news/item/Microsoft-has-to-pay-EUR860-million-EU-fine-1627263.html[/url]
you flip bill gates upside down and more then that will fall out of his pockets
[quote]abuse of its dominant market position[/quote] This verdict was typed from Windows using Word I bet.
[QUOTE=Unsmart;36547513]This verdict was typed from Windows using Word I bet.[/QUOTE] Gonna play Devil's Advocate but anyways Microsoft Word isn't software that is bundled with Windows... I believe these cases are referring to the software that is integrated into Windows. Fair enough for that though, Windows is absolutely loaded with so many different services such as media players, media centres, DVD authoring tools and basic word processing (wordpad). These things would no doubt underut competitors of similar products who may struggle to get their products to success because some people would rather not bother download alternatives when Windows already comes with what you need. However, although Microsoft would afford it, 860 million Euro seems absolutely ridiculous. [editline]29 June 2012[/editline] Honestly I'd rather see a Windows operating system with only basic things such as a basic file browser (we already got Windows Explorer), a basic web browser (I'm not too sure on IE9's integration because it is a very competitive browser, I was thinking of something such as a tabbed Windows Explorer with basic internet browsing capabilities) and the accessories such as Notepad (for purposes such as modifying program files, not for proper word processing). However this idea is unrealistic for Windows at least as it (Windows) targets the mass market which needs to consider convenience for all users, rather than my idea of targeting a minimalist market. Somehow reminds me of looking at some "minimalist" Linux distro, "minimalist" yet packing shit such as a word processor and spreadsheet application which not everyone is going to use.
[QUOTE=Antdawg;36547615]Honestly I'd rather see a Windows operating system with only basic things such as a basic file browser (we already got Windows Explorer), a basic web browser (I'm not too sure on IE9's integration because it is a very competitive browser, I was thinking of something such as a tabbed Windows Explorer with basic internet browsing capabilities) and the accessories such as Notepad (for purposes such as modifying program files, not for proper word processing).[/QUOTE] Basically make the "N editions" the standard editions then.
I'd really enjoy if Micorosft coughed up specifications for its document formats, instead of having to reverse engineer them. I mean, we have OOXML, but Microsoft hasn't really implemented that.
So uhhh.. Who gets that money and what's it going to be used for?
What the fuck? 1.5~ billion fucking dollars for this? Who gets that much god damn money, and why? Why is a monopoly warning or whatever worth $1.5 billion, why not just force them to slow their rolls or something? Jesus christ, the only thing that can come of this is a hurt economy, fining a massive employer so much fucking money is going to lead to some cutbacks...
I don't like Microsoft much anymore. Mainly for that whole Games for Windows live thing and xbo in general. I do like Bill Gates though, quite a charitable man.
[QUOTE=Clementine;36547912]What the fuck? 1.5~ billion fucking dollars for this? Who gets that much god damn money, and why? Why is a monopoly warning or whatever worth $1.5 billion, why not just force them to slow their rolls or something? Jesus christ, the only thing that can come of this is a hurt economy, fining a massive employer so much fucking money is going to lead to some cutbacks...[/QUOTE] Where did you get $1.5bn from it's just over $1bn
[QUOTE=Clementine;36547912]What the fuck? 1.5~ billion fucking dollars for this? Who gets that much god damn money, and why? Why is a monopoly warning or whatever worth $1.5 billion, why not just force them to slow their rolls or something? Jesus christ, the only thing that can come of this is a hurt economy, fining a massive employer so much fucking money is going to lead to some cutbacks...[/QUOTE] And it's useless, cause MS is used to just pay their fines and to change nothing.
[QUOTE=James*;36547997]Where did you get $1.5bn from it's just over $1bn[/QUOTE] 1.3 billion, I was closer
[QUOTE=Clementine;36548340]1.3 billion, I was closer[/QUOTE] No you are wrong, have you actually looked this up or are you just guessing [editline]29th June 2012[/editline] The 2008 fine was equal to about 1.3 billion but not the latest one, which is about 1.1 billion [url]http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/06/27/us-eu-microsoft-idUSBRE85Q0B720120627[/url]
[QUOTE=James*;36548453]No you are wrong, have you actually looked this up or are you just guessing [editline]29th June 2012[/editline] The 2008 fine was equal to about 1.3 billion but not the latest one, which is about 1.1 billion [url]http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/06/27/us-eu-microsoft-idUSBRE85Q0B720120627[/url][/QUOTE] Damn my ignorance and uncaring of foreign currencies, I thought this was pounds, I apologize for the misunderstanding Either way its still too much god damn money to fine a company
wow is the EU trying to pay up its debt by fining Microsoft lol
Am I understanding this article correctly? [quote]abuse of its dominant market position and [b]refusal to provide interoperability documentation[/b][/quote] Not sure exactly how much the first part affected the hearing since they provide no examples in the source but they were sued in part because they wouldn't help others reverse engineer their own software? I'm seriously confused.
[QUOTE=RichyZ;36547156]too bad gates has nothing to do with ms any more[/QUOTE] He's still a chairman at Microsoft, and probably ahs a lot of influence. Ballmer is the big guy, though.
[QUOTE=cccritical;36548668]Am I understanding this article correctly? Not sure exactly how much the first part affected the hearing since they provide no examples in the source but they were sued in part because they wouldn't help others reverse engineer their own software? I'm seriously confused.[/QUOTE] They have the dominant PC market and refuse to document how to make others work with it's network protocol. In a monopoly, that hurts potential competitors.
[QUOTE=Psyke89;36549309]They have the dominant PC market and refuse to document how to make others work with it's network protocol. In a monopoly, that hurts potential competitors.[/QUOTE] That's almost as stupid as Off-Side in Soccer or American Football in general.
if I was running Microsoft I would stop providing service to Europe. case would be dropped pretty quick.
[QUOTE=Psyke89;36549309]They have the dominant PC market and refuse to document how to make others work with it's network protocol. In a monopoly, that hurts potential competitors.[/QUOTE] Are you talking about winsock? Because I've used both winsock and normal sockets on a linux box I had and they've never had any problems communicating, they're supposed to work together fine. Or is this about windows hilarious local file sharing systems that nobody uses?
That is a fuck ton of money, even for a large company like Microsoft.
[QUOTE=Bomimo;36550865]That's almost as stupid as Off-Side in Soccer or American Football in general.[/QUOTE] Off-topic: No offside rule would ruin football, because there would be no passing play, just hoof it to the guy in the area, and defences would have to sit back. On topic, it was a smaller fine, but due to non-compliance, which I assume is failure to pay the fine, they increased it.
Europe, this is your chance, tell them you'll drop the charges if they bring the Start Button back!
Good, always wanted a new highway 'round here. Thanks Americans, we'll put them to good use. [editline]29th June 2012[/editline] [QUOTE=I Am A Rock;36550983]if I was running Microsoft I would stop providing service to Europe. case would be dropped pretty quick.[/QUOTE] If you did it, the case would not be dropped (because you are pretty much threatening publicly), you'd lose even more money and you'd probably get fined in the US for it too.
Service Denial. Some whore-ass alternative would come running pretty fast.
[QUOTE=RichyZ;36547156]too bad gates has nothing to do with ms any more[/QUOTE] Majority stockholder.
[IMG]http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l56m7pGF2L1qbe7rvo1_500.jpg[/IMG]
[QUOTE=Fenderson;36563730]Majority stockholder.[/QUOTE] Bill Gates isn't the majority shareholder at Microsoft.
[QUOTE=Matt-;36547764]So uhhh.. Who gets that money and what's it going to be used for?[/QUOTE] It'll probably end up being used to prop up Greece or Spain for a couple more weeks...
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