EU planning more fines for Microsoft?

I read this article on European Commission chief Neelie Kroes last night, and Tuesday morning woke up to news that the European Union is set to levy even more fines against Microsoft. Why? According to Bloomberg News:

European Union regulators may fine Microsoft Corp. for failing to comply with a 2004 antitrust order to charge "reasonable" fees for patent licenses on operating system software, three people familiar with the matter said. The fine may be announced as soon as February 27, said the people, who declined to be identified because the decision isn't public. Microsoft said in a January 24 U.S. regulatory filing that the penalty may be as much as 1.5 billion euros ($2.2 billion).

Wow. I continue to believe that the industry is able to take care of Microsoft by itself. Ms. Kroes and the European Commission are fighting yesterday's battle, while open source and SaaS are already winning today's battle against Microsoft, step by step.

I don't believe in victory by government fiat. I believe that markets--that competitors--are more than capable of toppling Microsoft's lard-laden dominance of 20th-century markets. Open source doesn't need the European Commission's help. I won't say "no" to Ms. Kroes taking a few billion from Microsoft's bank account, but we don't need it to win.

[seo2seo]

If the market HAD taken care of the problem, then the EU would not have intervened.

Or to put it another way, the EU intervened because the market had NOT taken care of the problem.

The EU rarely intervenes, despite constant drivel to the contrary, and fact that they won't let go of M$ depite their constant promises to 'do better', suggests they are not 'doing better'.

Do the math.

The road to Damascus is not a smooth road, be warned.

[john55440]

The *real* problem is that Microsoft is a USA company. If Microsoft was based in the EU, the EU wouldn't constantly be on their case.

[InklingBooks]

I agree with the previous poster. The key "fact" in this dispute is probably that Microsoft is a US company. I'm no fan of Microsoft, but these fines are beginning to look more and more like a money-making scheme. It's a bit like the hassle Apple has been getting in Europe for their iTunes stores. A legal edict as vague as "reasonable" isn't something that can justify a fine this large.

Imagine a town that posted spend limit signs calling for driving at a "reasonable" speed and then ticketed out-of-state travelers who were driving at the same or a slower speed than the locals. Suspicious to say the least. Can anyone point to similar fines directed at European companies?

With outsized EU bureaucracies, stagnant economies, unemployment rates twice that in the US, low birthrates, an aging population, an unsustainable level of social welfare, and immigrants that aren't assimilating, Western Europe is dying. If they won't buckle down and fix their problems, they should at least depart the historical stage gracefully and with class.

--Mike Perry, Seattle

[Newspeak finder]

The position is quite clear to US companies. The EU will not tolerate any company wherever they come from breaking our laws.

With bought politicians an economy that is riven by yet more abuses, 55 million people who not have health insurance, losing former 'allies' with its position on issues like torture, gun law and killing its own citizens and a fear of strangers the USA is not a model Europeans aspire to.

[Matt Asay]

The market *is* taking care of Microsoft, seo. Look at Google. Ten years from now Microsoft's desktop dominance won't matter one iota, regardless of what the EU does. Equally greedy people will take care of Microsoft. I like Google's greed better than Microsoft's (for now). Ten years from now we'll be wringing our hands about Google's dominance. But the point is that governments can basically let other private entities take care of things like antitrust. Human ingenuity and (yes) greed will find a way to topple the titans.

[greg30307]

You do need the EU because Microsoft is now buying quasi-governmental entities like the ISO to retain its monopoly. See the Wall Street Journal article at

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120242867034452081.html

And more detail, see:

www.noooxml.org

I agree that usually competition can take care of things, but when companies become rich enough to buy off entire countries, then government has to step in.

[seo2seo]

Even the States uses antitrust law - remember the Bell Telephone company?

And the US is not usually slow to use such laws, though not as drastically as the Baby Bells. But there has been been talk of splitting up M$ from your side of the pond.

This IS NOT an EU/US issue, it's an antitrust issue. The market clearly has NOT dealt with it, and M$ is using the excess profits to do things like buying Yahoo! - unchecked, they may be buying Google in ten years.

And even the most capitalistic country in the world - yours - has no-one able to compete. Or we'd at least know who the competitor was. And we don't. Because there's no-one to stop them.

It's called a monopoly.