Placing Bets: Will Bill Gates Plead Forgiveness Again?

[Oleksandr]

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5ioz ... wmtKvi7C-w

BRUSSELS (AFP) — EU competition regulators dealt a new blow to Microsoft on Wednesday, fining the US software giant a record 899 million euros for defying a landmark 2004 antitrust ruling.

The fine, worth 1.4 billion dollars, is the biggest ever levelled against a single company in an EU antitrust case and brings the total penalties against Microsoft to just shy of 1.7 billion euros.

B.Gates needs to learn quickly that this won't ever stop until he grows balls.

[Oleksandr]

And the answer is yes.

From the same source:

Last week Microsoft said it was making "broad-reaching changes" to its technology and business practices to enhance the ease with which its software interacts with partners, customers, and competitors.

However the commission gave the move a lukewarm response, saying that it had seen similar promises from Microsoft in the past.

[Oleksandr]

ARI had a press release on this issue as well:

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

The EU's $2.5 Billion Theft from Microsoft
February 28, 2008

Irvine, CA--The European Union has just fined Microsoft another $1.35 billion under antitrust law, bringing the company's total EU fines to $2.5 billion.

"This fine should be regarded by all for what it is: an act of government theft," said Alex Epstein, an analyst at the Ayn Rand Institute. "It is not proper for a government to impose a financial penalty unless a company is violating someone else's property rights. But Microsoft has violated no one's rights. It has sold a valuable product to willing customers and made voluntary agreements with willing developers.

"The European Union, on the other hand, has flagrantly violated the rights of Microsoft. It has forced the company to spend untold man-years tied up in court, submitting to invasive EU probes, and providing as much new documentation as EU antitrust chief Neelie Kroes feels like demanding. And it is seizing $2.5 billion of the company's earnings.

"That a productive company doing its best to succeed in the fiercely competitive software and online markets can be fined for adding a media player feature to its Windows software, or setting the price for access to its secret software codes, is a travesty. But it must be recognized as a travesty that flows from the nature of antitrust laws.

"Antitrust laws regard successful competitors on a free market as dangerous 'monopolists,' and authorize governments to punish these companies however they see fit. For over 100 years, some of the world's most productive companies, from Standard Oil to General Electric to IBM, have been persecuted under antitrust for expanding markets and lowering prices.

"It is time to put an end to this injustice. The EU can start by paying back to Microsoft's shareholders every penny it has taken from them."

### ### ###

Alex Epstein is an analyst at the Ayn Rand Institute, focusing on business issues. The Institute promotes Objectivism, the philosophy of Ayn Rand--author of Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead.

[Tolthar Lockbar]

Damn bastards...

[Petyr Baelich]

It's so horrible that Microsoft bundles a media player with its operating system. I think the EU's government is making a principled move here and I support them 188 2/56th%! Microsoft has an evil monopoly because it doesn't bundle other companies media players with its operating system and it's so hard to get rid of it and use something else. I mean you have to go into the control panel and everything. An ordinary person can not be expected to be so technically proficient as to know how to do this, therefore the option must be hardwired into every PC manufactured anywhere in the world. The UN should enforce this standard. Also, the directions for removing mediaplayer should be stamped onto the forehead of anyone buying any Windows software and they should be provided with a mirror at Microsoft's expense. Coca-Cola and Pepsi should also be forced to sell their competitor's products together with their own to promote diversity and equality. Power to the people!

[Tolthar Lockbar]

It's so horrible that Microsoft bundles a media player with its operating system. I think the EU's government is making a principled move here and I support them 188 2/56th%! Microsoft has an evil monopoly because it doesn't bundle other companies media players with its operating system and it's so hard to get rid of it and use something else. I mean you have to go into the control panel and everything. An ordinary person can not be expected to be so technically proficient as to know how to do this, therefore the option must be hardwired into every PC manufactured anywhere in the world. The UN should enforce this standard. Also, the directions for removing mediaplayer should be stamped onto the forehead of anyone buying any Windows software and they should be provided with a mirror at Microsoft's expense. Coca-Cola and Pepsi should also be forced to sell their competitor's products together with their own to promote diversity and equality. Power to the people!

Thats true, never thought of it that way. And why are Pepsi and Coke always black? Damn racist.

[Velocima Geminosa]

Petyr, you're my hero.

[Sol Angla]

It's so horrible that Microsoft bundles a media player with its operating system. I think the EU's government is making a principled move here and I support them 188 2/56th%! Microsoft has an evil monopoly because it doesn't bundle other companies media players with its operating system and it's so hard to get rid of it and use something else. I mean you have to go into the control panel and everything. An ordinary person can not be expected to be so technically proficient as to know how to do this, therefore the option must be hardwired into every PC manufactured anywhere in the world. The UN should enforce this standard. Also, the directions for removing mediaplayer should be stamped onto the forehead of anyone buying any Windows software and they should be provided with a mirror at Microsoft's expense. Coca-Cola and Pepsi should also be forced to sell their competitor's products together with their own to promote diversity and equality. Power to the people!

QFE. This man is epic win.

Dear Microsoft: There are these things. Men have them. They're called balls. Grow them.

[Oleksandr]

Dear Microsoft: There are these things. Men have them. They're called balls. Grow them.

Lol. Very nice.