____/ nessuno@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx on Thursday 28 February 2008 18:25 : \____
> On Feb 28, 7:51 am, Mark Kent <mark.k...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>> Ramon F Herrera <ra...@xxxxxxxxxxx> espoused:
>>
>>
>>
>> > "Now we know another reason Microsoft rolled out with great fanfare
>> > last week its interoperability principles. Not only was it hoping for
>> > one more chance to claim openness around its Office Open XML document
>> > format, but it was also hoping to head off another hefty antitrust
>> > fine from the European Commission.
>>
>> > On February 27, it became clear that Microsoft's effort on the EC
>> > front was in vain: The EC announced it planned to charge Microsoft
>> > $1.3 billion for failing to comply with terms from EC's 2004 antitrust
>> > case. The EC said the new fine (on top of the $1.2 billion it had
>> > already charged Microsoft) was for failing to provide competitors
>> > access to its protocols at a reasonable price, enabling them to build
>> > compatible solutions."
>>
>> If Microsoft have not put in the anti-free software provisions, then
>> it's just possible that they might've done enough. Clearly, they were
>> hoping that they could get away with attempting to isolate foss with
>> the EU's backing, but thankfully that was unsuccessful. I wonder how
>> much more money Microsoft will be willing to gamble on this?
>>
>> --
>> | Mark Kent -- mark at ellandroad dot demon dot co dot uk |
>> | Cola faq: http://www.faqs.org/faqs/linux/advocacy/faq-and-primer/ |
>> | Cola trolls: http://colatrolls.blogspot.com/ |
>> | My (new) blog: http://www.thereisnomagic.org |
>
> I've lost track of all the fines the EU has imposed. First there was
> 500 million euros, as I recall, but now I see the total of previous
> fines is $1.2 billion (=800 million euros). In any case, $1.3 billion
> more is an escalation. Too bad they didn't escalate it to the point
> it will really hurt. Anyway, it's a great day, and if they keep
> coming like this (once every 6 months now, it seems) the future will
> be brighter.
>
> Expect the trolls to get even uglier and more numerous (or at least to
> multiply nyms) as Microsoft gets squeezed more. Their latest attacks
> on you have reached new lows, especially those by
> flatfish=Moshe=Vernon=Abdul=LITTLE PEDRO=...
Kroes should urge Microsoft to hurry up with those payments. This could end up
like Novell and SCO (filing Chapter 11 before paying the debt).
If Yahoo goes through, then Microsoft is already in big debt and its assets are
mostly code, which is worth just a place in the bitbucket (as far as a
FOSS-rich world is concerned).
--
~~ Best of wishes
Roy S. Schestowitz | "Turn up the jukebox and tell me a lie"
http://Schestowitz.com | GNU is Not UNIX | PGP-Key: 0x74572E8E
http://iuron.com - proposing a non-profit search engine
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