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MS fined $613,000,000 for monopoly violation

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Saw on CNN this morning that MS is being fined $613 million for monopoly violation for including Windows Media Player with their OS. At least the other company we know doesn't get harrased this much for things like this or else all our OS'es would come with would be a calculator...well, until they were found to be breaking monopoly laws for including that.
 

Dex


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***? link? details? this doesn't make sense at all.
 
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This is really stupid. MS simply gets bashed for any stupid reason. They included search, and google was ******. They include a media player, and someone else gets tickled.
 
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Well anything they include for free can be considered anti-competitive as they have a monopoly. It really doesn't matter what apple includes with Macs, as Apple simply doesn't have a monopoly.

You reap the riches, you pay the price.
 
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I don't understand this. What is part of the OS and what isnt?
 
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I don't understand this. What is part of the OS and what isnt?

That is actually at the heart of the question here. Since MS began tying non-core applications to the OS itself, they became part of the OS to the point that you couldn't remove them and to the point that other 3rd party apps didn't work properly because of them. That was where the anti-trust and anti-competitive issues came in.

The issue with Media Player in this case, was how they tied it into the OS at the exclusion of other non MS players, thus hurting competition unfairly. The court ruled that MS had to give the code to competitors so they could utilize it to make their players work with the system as well. MS apparently didn't, and now they are being fined. This article simply states that an EU court turned down the appeal of the fine.
 
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Well anything they include for free can be considered anti-competitive as they have a monopoly. It really doesn't matter what apple includes with Macs, as Apple simply doesn't have a monopoly.

You reap the riches, you pay the price.

But Apple is also being investigated by the EU for anti-competitive actions related to iTunes. I guess there's no point in being too successful over there. You'll make someone mad because you're kicking their tail in the free market.
 
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I guess there's no point in being too successful over there. You'll make someone mad because you're kicking their tail in the free market.

Exactly.

Too much hassle to be a billionaire nowadays :Grimmace: ...
 
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It's about time Microsoft were fined. I have been waiting for 12 years.
 

D R


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It will be interesting to see how this all plays out. Apple and Itunes are under the eyes of the EC now, along with Intel, and Rambus to name a couple of others.
 
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This is ridiculous. It is Microsoft's product. As much as I hate them, they have a right to include whatever they want with their OS.
 
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This is ridiculous. It is Microsoft's product. As much as I hate them, they have a right to include whatever they want with their OS.

I don't think it's that it's their product. It's that Microsoft took action to keep competitor's products from working in their system. At least in the US, a monopoly is legal as long as it occurs naturally, i.e. the company doesn't make a artificial monopoly by taking steps to keep competition out of the market. That's what MS is apparently doing: taking steps to keep competitor's products from working in Windows. And the EU idea of illegal monopoly and related policies are even more liberal than the US.

I don't know all the details, so don't quote me, but that's the gist of it.
 
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That is actually at the heart of the question here. Since MS began tying non-core applications to the OS itself, they became part of the OS to the point that you couldn't remove them and to the point that other 3rd party apps didn't work properly because of them. That was where the anti-trust and anti-competitive issues came in.

The issue with Media Player in this case, was how they tied it into the OS at the exclusion of other non MS players, thus hurting competition unfairly. The court ruled that MS had to give the code to competitors so they could utilize it to make their players work with the system as well. MS apparently didn't, and now they are being fined. This article simply states that an EU court turned down the appeal of the fine.

seems fleurya was the only other one who read this post. ms isn't being sued 'CAUSE it is included, it's about HOW it in included.
you can delete itunes and use other media players seemlessly on a mac. (but why would you want to? ;))
 
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seems fleurya was the only other one who read this post. ms isn't being sued 'CAUSE it is included, it's about HOW it in included.
you can delete itunes and use other media players seemlessly on a mac. (but why would you want to? ;))

You used to be able to do the same on Windows too, until MS made it impossible to do so by tying things to the core of the OS.
 
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Where's the "What the heck are you talking about" emoticon when you need it?
LOL
icon14.gif
Virtual rep!
 
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