didn't fine them enough.
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| Author | Content |
|---|---|
| tracyanne Jul 08, 2008 1:56 AM EDT |
the fine should have been higher, the sanctions more onerous. |
| Sander_Marechal Jul 08, 2008 2:27 AM EDT |
Oh yes. I'd love to see the EU do what the US could not: break up Microsoft. |
| Libervis Jul 08, 2008 6:17 AM EDT |
What a show they're putting on. I for one think it doesn't matter in the long run whatever EU's beaurocrats do with Microsoft. They both are ultimately on the same side, yet we're supposed to think how EU is bravely fighting to liberate the european market from Microsoft's chains, or something. Microsoft is EU's cash cow and it's their current toy to play with. A decade from now it may be someone else. The point is that the regimes we have both in Europe and in US encourage monopolies to be created in the first place, while putting on a show like this one every now and then to convince everyone how this is not true, how their regulation actually prevents the market from developing monstrous monopolies etc. If they really don't want monopolies and oligopolies being developed, then they should stay the hell out of the market. No "limited liability". No regulation. Let businesses grow on their own merit, actually competing in the market with value, not by successfully abusing and extending the law. Meh. It's all ridiculous. Like I said, just a show. No western country has a truly free market so monopolies will always exist and these ridiculous "stick and carrot" waves will always happen. Yeah.. being controversial again. Deal with it. ;) Cheers |
| thenixedreport Jul 08, 2008 6:25 AM EDT |
Ah, so I see you're not a fan of the EU either. ;) I have no problem with you being controversial at all, and on the point with the EU, I happen to agree. Let us also not forget that Microsoft funded both major political parties in the year 2000. |
| Libervis Jul 08, 2008 6:32 AM EDT |
Yeah, of course I'm not a fan of EU. I'm principally opposed to all forms of coercive governments, and unions only add more of them. It's even harder to fight the "government of governments" than it is to fight just one government. People in US have a same problem. State government and a federal government, and now you might have a third, North American Union government. Geez. But yea, the topic is Microsoft, and I think it's a great example of a monopoly that grew by abusing the state subversion of the market. |
| purplewizard Jul 08, 2008 12:40 PM EDT |
Obviously it wasn't enough as they seem to want to ignore it still. Seems like it is time to see what options there are for throwing directors in prison for contempt of court. No idea if that is a possibility under relevant law. |
| Libervis Jul 08, 2008 3:21 PM EDT |
Sending them to jail costs money. Charging a fine earns them money. |
| gus3 Jul 08, 2008 7:58 PM EDT |
Then do both. Fine them, and charge them 500 euros/day for their room, board, and security. |
| DiBosco Jul 09, 2008 1:27 AM EDT |
The EU has its good points as well as its bad points actually. They actually look after *people* much better than many countries' governments. For example one excellent thing they did is bring in laws to ensure all people in member countries got at least twenty days' holiday on top of the individual country's bank holidays. There are a number of examples of good things like this. The media seem to like to paint the EU in a bad light and often it's right wing media doing it just because they don't like the idea of a socialist-type body making rules to improve life of the peasants. There are of course examples of corruption and Libervis' theory could well be true. I'd like to think not, but where there's power there's always corruption. As far as MS is concerned, yeah, the fine should've been double! ;-) |
| Bob_Robertson Jul 09, 2008 7:34 AM EDT |
> There are a number of examples of good things like this. Unless one does not consider such things "good". Imagine if the _contract_ that is the EULA were actually enforced. That is, that people knew that there was no "Big Mommy" to protect them from abusive businesses. They would have to actually read the EULA and agree to it. Two ways it could go, or some combination of the two: The Microsoft EULA would be nothing like what it is now; or people would not use Microsoft products. So one reason I'm all for the repeal of government regulation on both personal and business practices is that it makes people, and companies, responsible for their own actions. I didn't read a Microsoft EULA until a couple months ago, when trying to find where the VISTA refund was. Yet I've used their products off and on, almost entirely legally, since 1983. |
| DiBosco Jul 09, 2008 11:28 AM EDT |
I see things like the MS EULA as a very different thing to how people are looked after from a personal point of view though. Businesses abuse people the world over and they need reigning in at times. I would hate to be in the situation people in the States are in where people get a paltry ten days' holiday. I can only see good in legislation to give people things a half decent holiday allowance, in fact to me this is exactly what governments *should* be doing rather than the self-important posturing and sticking their noses in other countries' business most get up to. (The government of my country are probably amongst the worst for this.) All this aside, I am of the opinion anyway that the EU trying to actually do something about Microsoft's abuse of position is a good thing. :~) |
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