B Gruff wrote:
> On Tuesday 03 October 2006 17:27 Roy Schestowitz wrote:
> > Microsoft says appeals 281 million euro fine
> >
> > ,----[ Quote ]
> > | Software giant Microsoft has filed an appeal against a 280.5 million
> > | euro ($356.4 million) fine the European Commission imposed in July,
> > | holding it defied a 2004 antitrust ruling.
> > `----
> >
> http://yahoo.reuters.com/news/articlehybrid.aspx?storyID=urn:newsml:reuters.com:20061003:MTFH68520_2006-10-03_08-51-15_L03210713&type=comktNews&rpc=44
> > http://tinyurl.com/h6ejn
>
> " "As Microsoft said in July, we would appeal the fines imposed on the
> company at that time. The deadline for the appeal was October 2," a
> Microsoft spokesman said on Tuesday"
Microsoft is buying time. If they can keep 280 euros in their
cash-flow for an extra 3-6 months, with their profit margins, they can
earn about 200 Euros just on their 85% profit margins.
> By jove - that was lucky, wasn't it?
> Appeal lodged on the last-possible day!
Not really a big surprise. Microsoft's delays save them $1-2 million
Euros per day.
Furthermore, if they can get the enforcement focused exclusively on the
disclosure issues, they can completely evade prosecution in other areas
where they have been more "crafty" about ignoring the judgement and
it's terms and penalties.
Look at the USA case. Microsoft play cat-and-mouse with the DOJ over
disclosures, and then said, "OK, let's get an extension on that, just
to show our good faith". Meanwhile, Microsoft rejects any OEM attempts
to even mention Linux in advertizing on the same ads that display
Microsoft logo and trademarks. Microsoft still refuses to allow OEMs
to preinstall Linux in any form, even though it is well-known that it
is now possible to run Linux and Windows concurrently under a number of
different packaging options.
Microsoft has made it very clear that they will sabotage any VMWare,
Xen, or similar configuration in which Windows Vista is not the SOLE
and PRIMARY operating system.
Microsoft has defied court rulings stating that it is not allowed to
use it's monopoly power to exclude competitors, as it locks out
multimedia, security, and OSS applications.
Bill Gates makes Al Capone look like an amateur. For those who don't
remember, Al Capone was known for killing numerous people, and was
eventually convicted for income tax evasion. His prison sentence was
very light, but he somehow contracted Gonorhea and ended up a vegatable
by the time he was released.
Bill Gates even admits his crimes in open court, bragging about how
it's "common business practice" to engage in fraud, extortion,
blackmail, embezzlement, sabotage, and obstruction of justice, all as
part of his copyright "License" scheme. In those cases where the judge
doesn't think that a copyright license does not mean a "license to
commit felonies", Microsoft settles, very quickly, and the plaintiff's
lawyers make lots of bucks while the plaintiffs and the class members
get nothing but even more harassment and eventually end up being driven
into bankruptcy for their "disloyalty".
Al Capone once killed a Capo, with a baseball bat, in front of all his
other Dons, just to show them how he would deal with "disloyalty".
The reason Gates and Ballmer admit to these felonies isn't because they
want to "clear the air", it's to demonstrate, beyond any reasonable
doubt, that they are above the law.
> Y'know, there are some cynics who reckon that MS isn't really worried by the
> fines - every day that goes by, it's making a profit, so it will simply
> delay and delay for as long as possible. The fines don't really hurt -
> certainly not as much as compliance would.......
Oh, it's even worse than that. If Microsoft can drive competitors out
of the market, into total bankruptcy, as the courts are looking right
over the shoulder, trying to enforce the most irrelevant part of a
judgement, it sends a clear message to suppliers, OEMs, corporate
customers, and even End Users. It says, "we can do anything we want
to, hurt you as much as we want, and NOBODY, not EVEN the GOVERNMENTS
OF THE WORLD, can lift a finger to do anything meaningful about it!".
What better way to say "I RULE THE WORLD" than to thumb your nose at
the 4 biggest governments in the world, the EU, the United States, and
Asia, and tell them, "You clowns can't touch me, I OWN YOUR ASSES".
Congratulations Billy.
> I wonder what would happen if the E.U. were to say, "We've had enough. You
> can sell Vista here, but before you sell even a single copy, you show us
> that it complies". I reckon the boot would be on the other foot, and we'd
> see how amazingly quickly MS can do these things.....
No, the only thing the EU can do that would really hurt, is to impose
terriffs, quotas, and hard core restrictions on how many machines can
be shipped with ANY version of Windows, including Vista.
If they said, "You can ONLY SHIP 1/2 your machines with Microsoft
Software", they could really do some damage to Microsoft. But they
won't. Keep in mind that Microsoft has funded the overthrow of
Germany, France, and has almost succeeded in toppling England. They
have overthrown the USA, Afghanistan, Pakhistan, Iraq, and Japan.
What's left - Putin could be blown away? Overthrow China? Wipe out
South Korea and give control to Kim Jung Il?
He could do it. He has done it.
And nobody seems to care.
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