Italian class-action lawsuit for pre-installed M$ software..
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| Author | Content |
|---|---|
| henke54 Jan 05, 2010 3:35 PM EDT |
Quoting: The Aduc consumer defence association said on Tuesday it would present its case at a court in Florence after Wednesday's Epiphany holiday.http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSTRE6043HZ2... |
| herzeleid Jan 05, 2010 3:38 PM EDT |
Viva Italia! |
| henke54 Jan 05, 2010 3:38 PM EDT |
Quoting:Around 2,000 people, most of them Linux users, have already expressed interest in participating in the lawsuit, Donvito said in a telephone interview.http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9143102/Italian_consu... |
| gus3 Jan 05, 2010 5:02 PM EDT |
And with a name like "Don Vito" among the suit's supporters... Will he make Microsoft an offer they can't refuse? |
| tracyanne Jan 05, 2010 5:05 PM EDT |
One can only hope. |
| hkwint Jan 06, 2010 5:11 PM EDT |
OK, that's great. I tried to contact Aduc before (few month's ago), but to no avail. Their website is in Italian only, and sow is their newsletter I received by e-mail every month. I also noted Aduc filed a formal complaint at the DG of Competition in Bruxelles (the ones who fined MS for $1 billion). Sadly the complaint was in Italian only, but with the help of Google translate I was quite able to understand their reasoning. These people are serious. I'm really surprised they start a case, because as I understood they don't receive any funding from state or whatever, from volunteers only. I really hope April (a French organization) will join. Maybe Dutch Consumer Federation too. Note to myself: Inform them 'bout Italy. They have been on this before - but Dutch Competition Authority wouldn't do anything. Those are a monopoly themselves, without some democratic control (yeah, parts of the government being / acting 'independent', a real PITA). But the language - as noted - is a problem. I contacted some nice people of April before and they were happy to help filing an official complaint at the DG, but they apologized for not being that good at English, and I apologized for not being good at French. And I guess neither of us speak Italian, while the Italian people didn't react to my inquiries. All volunteers with a busy live. As a result I stopped my effort, but I'm really glad they didn't. However, here's the problem: Microsoft is not the one tying sales. They're not tying a PC to the sale of Windows. Dell, HP, Acer and the likes are the ones tying the salesy. They're tying the sale of Windows to the sale of a PC. None of those OEM's have a market share of more than 40%, so none of them can abuse their economic power according to Art. 82 and 83 of the treaty of Europe. But sure hope this action by Aduc will change something. |
| hkwint Jan 06, 2010 5:15 PM EDT |
It's all here (using whacky 'ol Google translation:) http://translate.google.com/translate?js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=... |
| Sander_Marechal Jan 07, 2010 2:58 AM EDT |
Quoting:I'm really surprised they start a case, because as I understood they don't receive any funding from state or whatever They probably get paid by comsumer memberships, just like the Dutch Consumentenbond is. The reason Aduc is filing suit now is because Italian law changed. In the past, consumer organisations could not file a class-action lawsuit on behalf of consumers. Now they can. |
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