Microsoft gets screwed over

[LiberTodd]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Unio...ompetition_case

Bill Gates just got fined like 2 billion euros for being smart.

[Zip]

My take...

http://uncommonsensecanada.blogspot.com/20...ontravened.html

[Thomas M. Miovas Jr.]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Unio...ompetition_case

Bill Gates just got fined like 2 billion euros for being smart.

This is basically a vile evil, given that even though Microsoft bundles both Internet Explorer and Windows Media Player with their operating system, no one is forced to use them. You are not even forced to deal with Microsoft Outlook. I am a Windows user, and I use Real Player media and Eudora email, and have had no problems with them interfacing with Windows. I recently used Netscape on another machine, and I had no problems. Windows Update doesn't work with Netscape, but Microsoft has the right not to facilitate its competitors.

Microsoft doesn't always have the best products, but the price is good for the bundling. And I think their competitors are simply whining because they don't have the market share of Microsoft. If they stopped whining so much and learned how to compete, and stopped fining Microsoft, we'd all be better off.

However, I do wish sometimes that Bill Gates and Microsoft et al would stand up for their rights instead of merely fighting a legal battle on strictly legal grounds. The battle for capitalism requires one to take a firm ideological position; and so far, neither Bill Gates nor Microsoft are willing to do that. It's like Hank Rearden handing over the "gift certificate" in Atlas Shrugged. One of these days Bill Gates needs to wake up just like Hank Rearden.

[Dr. Radiaki]

However, I do wish sometimes that Bill Gates and Microsoft et al would stand up for their rights instead of merely fighting a legal battle on strictly legal grounds. The battle for capitalism requires one to take a firm ideological position; and so far, neither Bill Gates nor Microsoft are willing to do that. It's like Hank Rearden handing over the "gift certificate" in Atlas Shrugged. One of these days Bill Gates needs to wake up just like Hank Rearden.

The comparisons we can draw here between Atlas Shrugged and the Microsoft case are more than a little frightening. Why is Microsoft being punished for its success? We have already seen the results of self-correcting capitalism at work. A sufficient number of educated people decided that they no longer wished to work with Microsoft products. Those people have created a variety of Linux distributions, many of which are completely free. Also, Apple only continues to build market share with its alternative, user-friendly OS, driven by the success of an innovative product, the iPod.

Speaking of which, why hasn't the EU sued Apple yet? The iPod clearly dominates the market. They are hurting the little guys, Sony, Creative, and others. They must be punished!

[mrocktor]

Microsoft rejects the fine imposed by the EU and demands their right to do as they please with their products be recognized. Cancellation of all MS product licenses in the EU to follow otherwise, funds for the recall and un-installation of said products already approvisioned.

If only...

[Seanjos]

Microsoft rejects the fine imposed by the EU and demands their right to do as they please with their products be recognized. Cancellation of all MS product licenses in the EU to follow otherwise, funds for the recall and un-installation of said products already approvisioned.

If only...

I wonder how many people here had the exact same paragraph run through their minds lol.

Here's another if only: Imagine Bill Gates had any strength of character and came forward to defend himself for making so much money.

[Thomas M. Miovas Jr.]

The Ayn Rand Institute has an op-ed concerning this travesty at:

http://www.aynrand.org/site/News2?page=New...ws_iv_ctrl=1221

Last I heard, which was a while back, $2 billion was all the cash that Microsoft had, and the European Union thugs want all of it.

Bill Gates,it is time for you to take back what you said about the anti-trust laws being at about the right level of governmental interference.

[LiberTodd]

I hope he never hands it over. Maybe if the EU forcibly takes it from him the world will finally see what they really are: a bunch of criminal thieves.

[Thomas M. Miovas Jr.]

I hope he never hands it over. Maybe if the EU forcibly takes it from him the world will finally see what they really are: a bunch of criminal thieves.

I agree.

I was wondering something, however. At what point would a fully capitalist country consider it to be an act of war if another country raided a company registered in the United Sates?

I think it has been made clear that the nationalization of the oil producers in the Mid-East ought to have been considered an act of war, but what about fines or non-justifiable punishments?

I'm not saying we ought to go to war with Europe, and it is certainly not the case that the United States has better anti-trust laws; but if a country is to defend it's citizens, wouldn't it also have to protect them from such confiscations?

[Zip]

I agree.

I was wondering something, however. At what point would a fully capitalist country consider it to be an act of war if another country raided a company registered in the United Sates?

I think it has been made clear that the nationalization of the oil producers in the Mid-East ought to have been considered an act of war, but what about fines or non-justifiable punishments?

I'm not saying we ought to go to war with Europe, and it is certainly not the case that the United States has better anti-trust laws; but if a country is to defend it's citizens, wouldn't it also have to protect them from such confiscations?

Why go to war? Economically cripple them. It would mean limiting a corporations right to trade with that country but in a fully capitalistic nation such as the one you allude to the business owners would probably voluntarily comply