if you want to hurt ms...
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| Author | Content |
|---|---|
| incinerator Jul 13, 2006 4:16 AM EDT |
...really badly, fining them won't do, even if the fine is that high and has to be paid for each day. A court order stopping ms to distribute its software in the EU until they comply would be much more effective. In that case they would start complying yesterday... |
| dinotrac Jul 13, 2006 9:34 AM EDT |
Your assumption is bad. The idea - at least the public idea - is not to hurt Microsoft. The idea is to compel compliance, preferably without lighting up a major international trade brouhaha. The EU is correct to follow normal procedures. Not as fast and satisfying as we would like, perhaps, but correct. |
| henke54 Jul 13, 2006 10:58 AM EDT |
Quoting: "And I think we can say it's a safe bet that Microsoft is not going to cooperate.http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,1988066,00.asp |
| sbergman27 Jul 13, 2006 11:20 AM EDT |
> To which, I say, "So what?" Since 11.5% of income is trivial... could you guys start sending me 11.5% of your paychecks? Thanks! Steve |
| jimf Jul 13, 2006 11:27 AM EDT |
Hey Steve, I want some of that :). |
| SamShazaam Jul 13, 2006 12:29 PM EDT |
This amount of money is enough to make the MS stockholders take notice. The stockholders will begin to ask some very hard questions. Questions like "How many copies of software do we have to sell just to pay for this?" or "Couldn't you have stopped this before it reached this stage?" Management may not fear the customer or the courts but they do fear the shareholders. |
| tuxchick2 Jul 13, 2006 1:10 PM EDT |
The idea is not to hurt Microsoft? but but why not? |
| sbergman27 Jul 13, 2006 1:19 PM EDT |
> The idea is not to hurt Microsoft? but but why not? Yeah, Dean is always such a party-pooper. I say we break out the torches and pitchforks! ;-) |
| dinotrac Jul 13, 2006 3:00 PM EDT |
>Yeah, Dean is always such a party-pooper. I say we break out the torches and pitchforks! ;-) For Microsoft, I hope, not me!!! Personally, hurting Microsoft doesn't offend me in the least. But, if I were an EU commissioner, starting a trade dispute is not high on my list. Last one I can think of was Airbus - Boeing over govt. subsidies and the like. Last I looked, Boeing was stomping all over Airbus. Better to go through procedure and get nasty when it clearly is called for. |
| grouch Jul 13, 2006 6:11 PM EDT |
I have an extra pitchfork for the party. Do we start with MS or with dinotrac? (The former for its history of damage, the latter just because). dinotrac: >"The idea - at least the public idea - is not to hurt Microsoft. The idea is to compel compliance, preferably without lighting up a major international trade brouhaha." I don't mind if Microsoft happens to be hurt in the process of being compelled to behave, but that would be a side effect and consequence of their own greed, not the goal of the EC's fine. That goal is as you point out, to compel compliance, which, theoretically, would result in a competitive market rather than a monopolized one. (Darn it. I want Ballmer and Gates in stocks and pillory. I want rotten eggs and tomatoes and pies provided to every person who ever suffered from the consequences of the predatory, anti-competitive monopoly. Ok, I'd settle for just fixing it so MS can't interfere with choices). |
| dinotrac Jul 13, 2006 7:06 PM EDT |
>Darn it. I want Ballmer and Gates in stocks and pillory. I want rotten eggs and tomatoes and pies provided to every person who ever suffered from the consequences of the predatory, anti-competitive monopoly. Shame on you, grouch. We talkin' about a whole mess o' victims here. That many rotten eggs, tomatoes, and pies would constitute an environmental hazard of the first order. I propose a lottery, holding the tossers down to 1 or 2 hundred thousand individuals, with the action being webcast (using ogg.theora, of course). Everyone else will be jealous, which is a bad thing. Cleanup costs will be much lower, which is a good thing. Ballmer and Gates are likely to pass out before the 10,000th toss anyway, so what's the diff? |
| grouch Jul 13, 2006 7:14 PM EDT |
dinotrac: Hey, at least I limited the number to sufferers from the illegal aspects of the monopoly. Rightfully, it should also include those who simply suffer the consequences of MS incompetence, too. Justice must be tempered with mercy sometimes, though. How about a lottery to select 10,000 and each only gets either 1 egg, 1 tomato, or 1 (messy, soft) pie? That would reduce the hydrogen sulfide from the rotten eggs and increase the carbonaceous components enough that we would end up with a nice, environmentally-friendly compost pile around B & G. |
| sbergman27 Jul 13, 2006 7:15 PM EDT |
> (Darn it. I want Ballmer and Gates in stocks and pillory. I want rotten eggs and tomatoes and pies provided to every person who ever suffered from the consequences of the predatory, anti-competitive monopoly. "I'll have you hung, drawn, and quartered! And whipped! And boiled...until...until...until you've had enough. And then I will do it again! And when I've finished I will take all the little bits, and I will JUMP on them! And I will carry on jumping on them until I get blisters, or I can think of anything even more unpleasant to do..." --Arthur Dent |
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