Microsoft gets slapped with a $613,000,000 fine.

[Phisherman]

European courts found Microsoft guilty of monopoly abuse and engaging
in anticompetitive conduct.

 

[FIsc]

European courts found Microsoft guilty of monopoly abuse and engaging
in anticompetitive conduct.

What really happened was the European Court deciding that actual fine
for Microsoft being a monopolist in this case was totally in place.

 

[FIsc]

What really happened was the European Court deciding that actual fine
for Microsoft being a monopolist in this case was totally in place.

Here you will find what it is about:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3563697.stm

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

What really happened was the European Court deciding that actual fine
for Microsoft being a monopolist in this case was totally in place.

Companies don't get fined for being a monopolist. They get
fined for engaging in anticompetitive conduct. That's two
completely different things!

 

[FIsc]

Here you will find what it is about:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3563697.stm

About the latest, a European Court deciding on the matter:

http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/09/17/business/msft.php

 

[FIsc]

Companies don't get fined for being a monopolist. They get
fined for engaging in anticompetitive conduct. That's two
completely different things!

Fact is "Microsoft has already been forced to pay nearly €1 billion in
fines in the nine-year-old legal case, which has pitted the software
maker based in Redmond, Washington, against the commission and a host
of competitors, including IBM, Sun Microsystems, RealNetworks and
Novell."

Source= http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/09/17/business/msft.php?page=1

 

[HeyBub]

Fact is "Microsoft has already been forced to pay nearly ?1 billion in
fines in the nine-year-old legal case, which has pitted the software
maker based in Redmond, Washington, against the commission and a host
of competitors, including IBM, Sun Microsystems, RealNetworks and
Novell."

Small change.

Microsoft has a number of options remaining. Recall that CDC sued IBM (with
the help of the Justice Department). That suit dragged on for 14 years.

Microsoft could simply BUY RealNetworks and the complaint disappears.

MS could pull out of Europe.

 

[FIsc]

Small change.

Small chance?

Microsoft already paid the $605.6 million fine back in 2004:

http://www.iht.com/articles/2004/07/01/techbrief_2.php

Microsoft has a number of options remaining. Recall that CDC sued IBM (with
the help of the Justice Department). That suit dragged on for 14 years.

Microsoft could simply BUY RealNetworks and the complaint disappears.

MS could pull out of Europe.

Pull out would allow other OS to fill the gap in the market, within a
few years the whole MS market would be taken over.

Maybe then we would have an OS without all the trouble.