Comments on: EU to investigate Microsoft file format support

Microsoft says the move to allow Office to save and edit files in a rival format will give consumers more choice. The EU isn't convinced.

[suyts]

Ohhh ohh, looks like the EU is short on funds again. Time to go on another American tech company raid.

[freemarket--2008]

Well, it only seems to be M$ that is getting the treatment. Everyone else has to play by the same rules.

Just because they got away with a slap on their wrist from the US doesn't mean they will do the same everywhere.

[orphu]

You hit the nail on the head.

[Newspeak finder]

If your companies want to trade with us they - rightly - have absolutely no choice.

The EU looks after the interests of EU citizens and American tech companies will just have to do what we want or leave.

[suyts]

Oops, looks like the EU is low on funds again. Time to go on another American tech company raid.

[jsa55]

Microsoft is in a classic case of "damned if you do, damned if you don't."

Microsoft finally gives in and adds support for competing, non-Microsoft formats: Microsoft is hurting consumer choices.

Microsoft sticks to its guns and does not add support for competing, non-Microsoft formats: Microsoft is hurting consumer choices.

The Europeans eat too many sour grapes.

[daftkey]

Microsoft is going to have to live with the stigma of their former strong-arm selves for a very long time. It's actually a shame that the US and Canada don't place corporations under the same scrutiny as the European Union does.

Right now, Microsoft is going to live with the same headaches as anyone with a criminal record does.

[Commander_Spock]

Subject: "It Is Not Going To Be Over Until The Fat Lady Sings; or, "The CONCORDE" Flies Commercially - Again!

That, "A Microsoft product manager told CNET News.com on Wednesday that the company plans to discuss its move with the Commission. "We have ongoing dialogue with the EC, so we will absolutely have a discussion with them about these steps and get whatever feedback they may have on it," said Tom Robertson, general manager of Interoperability and Standards at Microsoft.

Starting sometime in the first half of next year, Office 2007 will support ODF as a native file format alongside Microsoft's own Office Open XML. Customers will be able to choose one or the other as the default format..." So, what is it going to be for the "crunching of the numbers" to determine how economically it will be from a "standards perspective" to fly AIRBUS, "The CONCORDE", The DreamLiner..... is it going to be "Office 14" on Windows; or, is it going to be OpenOffice, Notes, Symphony.... on eComStation. Perhaps, we all will get the answers we are seeking - When The "Fat Lady" Sings the "Interoperability" Tune!

[Newspeak finder]

When are US companies going to realise that if they want into our markets they have to obey our laws.

It is really very simple.

[Rawnchie14]

The EU is always attacking MS, they make up reasons to "probe" MS hoping they can find something else to sue them for.

It seems to me the EU has far too much authority to be able to and following through with bullying international corporations for their lunch money. "You're doing the right thing, but your STILL evil!"

Yet they'll probably continue to turn a blind eye to Apple's monopolistic and extremely closed system tactics for years to come. It blows my mind how a group constituted of world leaders, can be so nausiatingly biased.

The world is seriously, spiraling to hell.

[daftkey]

I'm pretty sure that if you took a closer look at the past year's headlines, Apple has been under close scrutiny by the EU as well. The only difference is that Apple doesn't have a monopoly on any major industry, except arguably music. Right now it's hard to argue even that, because there are so many competitors to iTunes that offer non-DRM MP3 music that will work on so many different players, Apple doesn't have the kind of control over music that Microsoft has over the OS. You might point to Apple's large marketshare of MP3 players and the fact that they sell the most music in the world as being monopolistic, but that's the same thing as saying Wal-Mart has a monopoly on low-price retailing (they don't, even though they are the leader).

[lucien64]

It should be EU not EC.

And Microsoft has to support ODF as it is a standard and Microsoft is commited to support standards. :-)

And EU is for sure not investigating THAT they implement the format, but if the way to implement it is intended for getting competition out of business. As they have a long record of pushing competitors, they cannot control, out of business, it is for sure a wise move to investigate at the very beginning. And the EU has some funds to use for that task, as Microsoft has to pay big money...

[fred dunn]

If Bill Gates burped in public the EU would probably investigate that too.
The EU is really getting on my nerves. Why? Because MS has to pay EU Lawyers to represent them in EU courts for all of this EU nonsense and where do you think MS is getting that money...out of the pockets of their American customers.
What MS should do is add the cost of EU litigation and fines ONLY to those products sold in the EU.

It just seems like the EU doesn't have anything else to do. As was mentioned above why don't they go after Apple and their closed OS+Hardware platform? I'll tell you why, because they know that they can't pinch as much out of Apple so it won't "pay off".

[daftkey]

If you knew anything about economics you would know that it is actually Microsoft and the EU, not American customers that are paying for this investigation. Your price of Office and Windows is not affected by this kind of thing (nor patent litigation, nor piracy, nor any other excuse Microsoft would like to give you for why prices seem artificially high). The prices are set at a level that Microsoft knows you will pay - end of story.

[jmdunys]

You're not only prejudiced but you are greatly egocentric.
Microsoft get their money from all OUR pockets. Do you know how much Office costs in England, Belgium, Italy, Australia, Korea? The huge difference in price is not only because of exchange rate...

By asking 'the EU" to go after Apple, you're showing:
1. You don't know what is happening around you (Apple did have run-ins with the EU over their pricing)
2. You are just a defender of all-things-Microsoft.
3. You seem to forget that the USA spent millions in a case where Microsoft was proved to be GUILTY in all cases (but they did nothing about it), the Microsoft spent billions in the past 5 years in litigation with American companies over their business practice (and nothing with European companies because they don't have a litigation culture)

[Newspeak finder]

There is a very simple answer to all those criticising the EU for daring to look after the interests of EU citizens.

Please don't sell in Europe if you don't want to play by our rules. You are free to take your products elsewhere.

We really don't want monopolist companies who imagine they can flout our laws with impunity. Congratulations to the EU.

PS It is the EU not the EC. It seems that senior Microsoft executives don't even know the name of the market they are trying to sell into and can't be bothered to find out.

[Commander_Spock]

Getting What You Pay For.. Well, sure enough - "There is a very simple answer to all those criticising the EU for daring to look after the interests of EU citizens. Please don't sell in Europe if you don't want to play by our rules. You are free to take your products elsewhere. We really don't want monopolist companies who imagine they can flout our laws with impunity. Congratulations to the EU..." As "EU citizens" can easily fill up an "AIRBUS 380" or a "CONCORDE" and fly to Mid-Town New York, shop for all the softwares and other commodities they cannot get easily in the EU, pay for the "Carry-On" and hop back aboard their airliners of choice for the return journey. Since an OS without Media Player and Linux cannot satisfy certain needs then an even better answer would be to pay for what you want. What do you think about that idea!

[jsa55]

It's the European Commission that does the investigating. You don't seem to know the place where you come from.

[Newspeak finder]

Why would any EU citizen want to shop in the US?

[drfrost]

You're jumping over the whole point to give the US and MS a black eye. How about having some intellectual integrity and addressing the issue at hand.

[russkeller]

People seem quick to defend the Monopoly today. I wonder if you guys would be so quick to defend Microsoft if it was a Chinese company.

[jsa55]

This isn't about defending a monopoly. It's about the EU being sour grapes. Oh, you're finally playing by our rules? Well, too bad, we're still going to fine you because we simply don't like you.

[sfotoord]

"People seem quick to defend the Monopoly today. I wonder if you guys would be so quick to defend Microsoft if it was a Chinese company. "

As an American, its just not that natural to care about the EU dealings with a foreign company. And this debate is not even about the past monopoly. MS is getting what's coming their way on that front. The concern is that EU seems hell bent on investigating Microsoft's every move. The EU would be pissed if the US started investigating every new phone model that Nokia shipped to the US or if we started building random cases against SAP.

[sfotoord]

In other news, Microsoft announced that they are paying all of their fines to the EU. However, the EU has launched an investigation to make sure the check is good.

[gmcaloon--2008]

To all of you who think the Microsoft exec got it wrong when referring to the EC, it is you who have got it wrong. EU stands for the European Union. Microsoft is not a nation-state and therefore has no standing with the EU. The EC however stands for the European Commission. it is that Commission that deals with competition issues within the EU and therefore the agency Microsoft must deal with.

The author of the news story rightly assumed that most people have no idea what the EC is and had he used those initial as the Microsoft exec did, it would have confused many.

[ILibao]

EC stands for European Commission not European Community. Why the he!! would they change EC to EU. Makes as much sense as fining MS as much as you do.

[Commander_Spock]

Hey "sfotoord"; While the EU is launching that "investigation to make sure the check is good..."; Did the news say when The "Quieter" CONCORDE will be arriving.

[jmdunys]

Typical prejudiced remarks. GROW UP, TRAVEL, GET TO KNOW THE WORLD, and chill out!

What this simply says is that they want to make sure that:

1. Microsoft does what the company says it would do.
2. The 'new' 'native' formats are actually inter-operable with the competition and vice-versa

It's a GOOD THING for Microsoft, if they are, because they can win market that are closed today, on the basis that Office document are completely inter-operable and open standards (in use in local governments across the globe, administrations, education, etc.)

[Commander_Spock]

Re: "Typical prejudiced remarks. GROW UP, TRAVEL, GET TO KNOW THE WORLD, and chill out! What this simply says is that they want to make sure that: 1. Microsoft does what the company says it would do. 2. The 'new' 'native' formats are actually inter-operable with the competition and vice-versa..."; So, what in the world is stopping you and the company that you work for from coming up with a "Quieter" CONCORDE or a better Office Productivity Suite (than the one currently produced by the American owned Microsoft Corporation) that will comply with national as well as International Standards requirements; and, in the process help you and the company that you work for "win market(s) that are closed today" from you?

[Core_M]

Like it or not, the only changes that Microsoft is making in terms of moving to open standards are driven by the EU. The problem with the EU right now is that everything is going fine over there, so they are bored for the most part and need something to do...

Either way I do fully agree that all the costs of the lawsuits and probes in the EU should be carried directly to EU customers and it should be made clear why it is happening. Microsoft is obviously not hurting either with nearly 40 billion USD in the bank, but that's no reason to harass them. Go after Apple or a real monopolistic company or something....

[fokkwp]

As long as MS promotes significant and essential features of its documents that are not preserved in ODF, there will be no interoperability between Word and non-monopoly document editors and viewers. Should MS be required to "dumb down" its document formats to squeeze them all into ODF? That would seem to be anti-choice, anti-innovation. But the problem is not MS creating new document features twice a year (and some of them are actually useful); the problem is MS attempting to be on a critical mass of desktops so that lesser, not fully-compatable alternatives are essentially squeezed off. Can't blame them for trying, and can't blame the rest of the world for resenting the lack of options for competition and innovation.

[Newspeak finder]

The EU will carry on protecting the interests of its citizens as it sees fit - not as any foreign entity sees fit.

Microsoft will just have to like it or lump it.

It really is very simple - if Microsoft or any foreign body does not wish to obey EU laws they can take their products out of our markets.

[djambalawa]

I'm wondering when the EU or EC (woteva that bunch of godless hippies with goaty beards are in their communist open source orgy) are going to WAKE UP TO THE FACT THAT M$ ARE PROVIDING A CALCULATOR IN WINDOWS!!!!!??

Yep.. its called calc.exe - gotta be worth a few $billion surely? Can I get a cut?

[againstms]

Thank god someone is keeping an eye on MS. To bad the US government isn't doing their job. Everyone knows that MS is a monopoly but nothing is done about it. Keep up the good work EU.

[Commander_Spock]

Well, it is good that "someone (else's mother) is keeping an eye on (the toddler) MS" as the descendants of the Founding Fathers et al are busy securing the oil supply lanes around the world; and, with world's economy going the way it is with demands on oil, food... the question is: What is it going to be - smaller airplanes as a result not enough people to fill the seats; or, is it going to be super-sized ones like the AIRBUS 380s; so, this time around it might have to be a modular OS without "EXCEL" instead a modular OS without Media Player to help put things in the right economic perspectives.

[pc_control]

It's all about choice.
...
Microsoft has had the choice to support ISO-ODF on all its office platforms (XP, 2003, 2007) for as long as those products and ODF have existed (ODF was ratified as an ISO standard early in 2006, and was approved an an OASIS standard early in 2005).
...
Microsoft now chooses to support ODF *sometime next year*, but ONLY if people pay to *upgrade* to their latest and most expensive MSOffice 2007. Keeping in mind here that this is the SAME company which issues monthly patches to try and keep all the many holes in Windows and Office closed (ALL supported versions). So this is all nothing more than a manipulative money grab - there is no reason at all for not supporting ISO-ODF in Office 2003 or previous versions of MSOffice. Right now.
...
Of course, you do have a choice as well. You can choose to download and use OpenOffice, which uses ODF as its default file format (while also supporting all MSOffice formats and .pdf) for free from www.openoffice.org, or IBM Lotus Symphony (again, free) from symphony.lotus.com. Or you can choose to pay Microsoft's hundreds of dollars of ransom for the right to run (but not own) MSOffice 2007, and perhaps get ODF support *sometime next year*. Maybe. The choice is ultimately up to you, and to the recommendations you make to your employers.
...
I for one choose not to be a part of Microsoft's food chain any longer.