Micro$oft in trouble again

[Querulantus]

I guess this is also relevant news for the freeware and open source
communities:

Microsoft could face 2m euro a day fine over competition ruling

The European commission significantly raised the stakes yesterday in
its protracted legal battle with Microsoft by threatening to fine the
world's biggest software group €2m (£1.4m) a day for non-compliance
with anti-trust sanctions.
(...)
The commission (...) bases its "preliminary" views of non-compliance
on the findings of Professor Neil Barrett, an IT specialist and
independent monitor approved by the US firm.

He says any programmer relying on technical documentation provided by
Microsoft to enable inter-operability "would be wholly and completely
unable to proceed" and the information is "totally unfit at this stage
for its intended purpose".

"Using the documentation is an absolutely frustrating, time-consuming
and ultimately fruitless task. The documentation needs quite drastic
overhaul."

This devastating critique rests on a fundamental clash. Brussels
insists that all it is asking for is that Microsoft make available the
protocols - not the source codes - behind Windows.
(...)

Full article:
http://technology.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,16559,1673333,00.html


Q.

 

[Helen]

Yeah, I'm familiar with M$'s latest headlines. Did you see the info about M$ just beginning
albeit late in the game, getting into subscriptions? LOOK OUT!

--
It has always been the policy of the
advocates of error, when unable to
sustain themselves by sophistry, specious
reasoning and false logic, to stigmatize
the advocates of truth.

 

[RGreen]

It's a pitty that only MS is in the eye of the lawyer$. Apple and Sun have
the same kind of approach and same problems and nobody gives a shit.

 

[Gary R. Schmidt]

It's a pitty that only MS is in the eye of the lawyer$. Apple and Sun have
the same kind of approach and same problems and nobody gives a shit.

Hmmm, Apple, yes, but Sun????

SPARC is open, you can download the specs for the CPU.

Solaris is not only free, but is also open, see <http://www.opensolaris.org>

(Agreed, all recent, but they have hardly followed MS' business
practices at any time)

Cheers,
Gary B-)