Two-Card Monti (re: Microsoft settlement)

Wall Street Journal ^ | March 25, 2004 | Editorial

[OESY]

Check this out: Yesterday Europe's antitrust czar, Mario Monti, ordered Microsoft to offer a version of its Windows operating system without the currently included Windows Media Player, which allows computers to play music, movies and the like. Oh, the commission also fined Microsoft $612 million for "bundling" Media Player into Windows. But that's not the weird part.

[OESY]

The Clinton administration's antibusiness obsession, most in evidence against Microsoft under Reno-Klein, set a dangerous precedent for US intellectual property rights and software development. Without Microsoft pioneering of PC systems standards, the computer markets would be chaotic, restraining job skills mobility, technology-related capital expenditure investment and productivity gains.

[2banana]

It is a shakedown - pure and simple. Microsoft should pull (shrug) its business from Europe and offer no support for its products for a year....

[MrB]

"we are not expropriating Microsoft's intellectual property"

just Microsoft's CAPITAL property.


The Bush admin should take some action against the EU for intiating an act of war on our economy.
Trace the current downturn back and you'll see it started when Clinton declared war on Microsoft instead of Al Qaida.

[jpl]

The real issue should not be whether or not the OS comes bundled with extras like WMP. The real issue is whether or not someone can fairly easily install and use an alternative such as the RealPlayer if they want to. If so, then there's no legitimate complaint to be made against Microsoft. But if Microsoft deliberately adjusts their OS code to make it difficult or impossible to use the alternatives (which they've been caught doing before in the past), then that's foul play in my book.

[BushCountry]

Microsoft has been the greatest, I repeat, the greatest restrait on the advancement/innovation of operating systems and networking. They have crippled, stoled and crushed their competition with total a disregard of the consequences to the industry. Their history is repleat with stolen code, broken business promises, privacy invasion, and security that you could drive a truck through.

[azhenfud]

"It is a shakedown - pure and simple. Microsoft should pull (shrug) its business from Europe and offer no support for its products for a year...."

But Microsoft's endeavor to offer a quality product at a reasonable price handicaps them to do just that. OTOH, a slight increase of say 10% in the prices of "both" European versions (because of "additionad R&D required") will help Microsoft recoup those costs rather quickly.

In other words, the EU shot every European Microsoft user in the foot by their own greed.

[snooker]

One little point that keeps getting omitted from the settlement discussion is the settlement forces MS to disclose the APIs used in their network. This will allow competitors to inter-operate with windows. IMHO this is more significant that all the rest combined.

BTW, MS not allowing others to have access to the networking APIs is what brought the original complaint to the EU.

If MS were allowed to continue to 'hide' the APIs how would any other manufacturer inter-operate with Windows?

MS is an abusive monopoly no matter how you slice it. I guess the only way to get them to allow others program to inter-operate with their software is to take them to court. Works for me.

So tell me, why is forcing a monopoly to disclose the APIs to their external APIs bad?

A fair corporation with a dominant position in the OS market should disclose all their APIs so other software companies could program and use the OS for their own software. The fact that MS does not do this is all you need to know about them.

[PGalt]

Interesting discussion bump.

[Notrevo]

Actually, it is so easy to install multiple media players (such as Creative, Quicktime, Real, etc) on Windows XP, a monkey can do it. The fascists in the EU are simply piling on to the "Reno and crew lawsuit" to extort $$ from the most innovative software company on the panet.

[MrB]

Linux is free. And, it's open, so you can play with or modify the APIs at will.

As a programmer, it would be nice to have access to use the APIs in MS, but I don't claim that I have a "right" to it.

Besides, all these lawsuits are silly anyway. It will be meaningless in a couple of years.

Think about this - the OS is a user friendly(ier) layer over the CPU machine code. Soon, the .Net framework is going to be a dominant programming layer over the operating system. Just as few people program to the CPU machine code anymore (NT and later puts up that layer), few are going to program to the native APIs soon.

[steplock]

Let's all install RealPlayer at default settings - with ALL of it's ScumWarez / SpyWarez / and SPAM generators built in!

Or apples QuickTime player that usually trashes sound and video more than plays it - also replete with AdWarez and SPAM!

WinAmp (FREE version available) works good one SOME formats and terrible on others (I use it for live audio feeds)

Media Player also has it's own SpyWarez and ither intrusive data streaming back to the Left-Coast due to their fear of the RIAA.

Install Zone Alarm and BLOCK everthing that these players want to send out! Only allow access to specific files - the still work that way!

[stylin_geek]

But if Microsoft deliberately adjusts their OS code to make it difficult or impossible to use the alternatives

So, what do you think about the fact Ford parts don't work on Chevrolet?

[jpl]

I agree, and I believe that most of the legal abuse that has been heaped on Microsoft over the years has been wrong and unjustified. I think most of it has really been little more than legal political extortion against Microsoft for not sufficiently playing the political game.

[Teacher317]

In other words, 90 days from now, computer makers and consumers will have a choice: Buy a version of Windows that does everything it currently does; or, for the same price, buy a version that does less. Why would anyone buy the crippled version?

The decision was about grabbing more money for EU socialists, not about better products or choice for Europeans.

[jpl]

So, what do you think about the fact Ford parts don't work on Chevrolet?

That of course is a false analogy. A better analogy would be if Ford modified their vehicles so that, say, Bridgestone tires were no longer possible to put on the car.

Your argument makes sense only if you agree with the proposition that every single software developer in the world is a competitor of Microsoft. If you make this claim though, you actually end up making a pretty good case that the OS divison really should be split apart into a separate entity from the rest of the company.

[An.American.Expatriate]

It was within his power, he said, to apply the order to the rest of the world.

SINCE WHEN ???

exactly WHO appointed the EU as the guardian of "the rest of the world".

European Aristocratic Takeover Alert!!!

[stylin_geek]

If Ford chose to do so, it is their business. You are free to purchase something else.

Same rule applies when it comes to Microsoft.

And don't go down the road of computer manufacturers having to bundle the Microsoft OS. If you don't like it, don't buy a computer.

[Naspino]

If so, then there's no legitimate complaint to be made against Microsoft. But if Microsoft deliberately adjusts their OS code to make it difficult or impossible to use the alternatives (which they've been caught doing before in the past), then that's foul play in my book.

It took me months of effort but I FINALLY got RealPlayer installed and after another grueling several weeks managed to also install WinAMP. </sarcasm>

[AFreeBird]

So, what do you think about the fact Ford parts don't work on Chevrolet?

This is a tired comparison and really doesn't apply. PC's are not cars.

See, the model for PC's is not Ford, GM, but IBM and "compatiables". DOS/Windows was designed first (DOS) to run on the IBM PC. When other computer manufatures came into the picture (Compaq) the same OS ran on those systems, so in essence, the OS ran on the original (Ford) and then later on similar hardware (GM).

If you wish to take it further, Ford designs and either manufactures themselves, or outsources to others, the parts that make up the car, but other companies also design and manufacture "compatible" parts that will work in a Ford. Sometimes to better specs and perfromance than OEM equipment.

What Windoze users want to be able to do is: buy aftermarket parts to customize the car to their performance or esthetic requirements. To further the analogy, Ford, following the M$ model, would make cars where the hood is locked, and can never be opened; all parts are connected by some secret connector design that is not shared with the rest of the world. Not very realistic in the automobile world, and is showing some problems in the software world.