Comments on: Why Microsoft's EU problem isn't going away

After a powerful regulator publicly urges more adoption of open source, Steve Ballmer's got to wonder if he'll ever catch a break. Probably not.

[James7777777]

So when are they going to go after apple?

Apple has a clear monopoly (as clear as microsoft's) with the iPod. Then they bundled iTunes, quicktime, and now even safari in order to use the iPod.
They refuse to publish the specs for the drm so itunes purchased music can only be played on an ipod, and ipods can only be synced with itunes. Seems pretty clear they should be the target of some of these suits.

[gsekse]

That might be that I can easily replace the Ipod (case change to prevent infringement!) with 30 other mp3 players, I can legal purchase MP3's from many sites. I can purchase the CD and make MP3's from that.

That being said, I can use Linux instead of windows (and I do) but I HAVE to use windows because so many things refuse to play with Linux because MS has made so many things incompatible by it's business practices. I have no sympathy.

[NPGMBR]

gsekse - Are you kiding? There are more programs on this planet that work with Microsoft software than with another other programs. Do you really understand why the EU punished MS? It was clearly stated in the article.

[JasonCe]

Could not agree more.

It seems like people want to go after Microsoft just for the sake of going after Microsoft. Apple and their fully-closed formats have become a monopoly on digital music, yet nobody blames Apple.

[Penguinisto]

...and which "fully-closed formats" would these be? AAC (iTunes music) is an industry (and not even Apple's) standard. So - what else have you got?

[chabig83]

You are misinformed. iTunes music isn't restricted to iPods. It can be played on Mac and Windows PCs, burned to disc and played on CD players, played on iPhones, etc. Then again, Microsoft isn't in trouble for having a monopoly. Having a monopoly is legal. "Abusing" that monopoly is not legal. There is a difference.

[James7777777]

You can't play itunes music on non apple software unless you first burn it to disk (which can hurt quality). There is no way to get your itunes purchased music (drm) onto an alternative mp3 player.

[Penguinisto]

Sure you cn - you can buy non-DRM'ed music from iTunes, and the iPod plays non-locked files.

[James7777777]

PS I'm not misinformed, you're just an idiot.

[Penguinisto]

actually... you're the idiot. He just outlined how one can easily get iTMS purchased music onto other players. Also, the iTunes Music Store sells un-locked music as well. Now... tell us about how to get music purchased from Zune's music store onto something that isn't a Zune or a Windows machine... ;)

[dcase99]

Simple, tell the EU that they can no longer purchase Microsoft products and change the file types so no open source program can open Microsoft documents.

They want open source, let them have it.

I'll bet there will be a quick "what were we thinking" moment

[Penguinisto]

Considering that Microsoft itself has freely-downloadable conversion plugins from MS Office formats to open ones (from a previous ruling), I doubt your fantasy would come to pass. ;)

[valdocs]

A couple of notes about the article. First, "'I know a smart business decision when I see one - choosing open standards is a very smart business decision indeed,' Kroes said in a speech." Open standards and open source: not the same thing. There's a lot of commerical software that supports open standards. Somewhere along the way, many people seem to have confused these two "open" terms.

Second, "Michael Cusumano, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Sloan School of Management [said], '[Europe] is the place where the open source movement originated and they don't really have any dominant infrastructure players." Odd to hear that from an MIT professor; isn't that where Richard Stallman started the GNU project?

[someguy999]

this whole thing is lame. political speakers just like getting there name in the newspaper as the super-hero of the people...

Statements like "I know a smart business decision when I see one - choosing open standards is a very smart business decision indeed" what does that even mean in the work place. what does that mean to you personally, you're numbers are down and you want more voters? oh yeah, you're right... the average secretary needs to be able to open the bits and bytes of a word document so she can tweak it using her local copy of C++... just plain stupid.

at the end of the day as long as my word process can read all my documents, show me th benefits...

[objectiveopinion]

This article has no credibility. The author does not seem to understand the difference between open standards and open source. Example of open standard is Web Services (not necessarily open source) and an example of open source is Linux (not all aspects are open standards). Open standards do help businesses inter-operate and reduce dependency to a single software vendor. Open source is a development paradigm where one can get the software for free but typically have to pay for the support. Open source does not reduce vendor dependency.

In view of the above, this article is a meaningless set of sound bites and buzzwords.

[Penguinisto]

open standards aren't a bad thing. Meanwhile, you are incorrect - open source does reduce vendor dependency - if what I purchase comes with source code, then I can hire someone to maintain it, modify it, or basically do whatever I want done with it... done.

[Moskwice]

Microsoft performs very badly in European public affairs. I was told just this week Microsoft organised this week an SME day in Brussels. UK SME token Peter Jungen insulted the European mainstream as beeing marxist and participants called on the Commissioner to show leadership to go against the European people and make unpopular decision. When you are on foreign soil you need to behave, you just cannot team up with extremists. The way Microsoft refused compliance with moderate antitrust rulings, interfered into European consumer, patent and research funding policy and insulted competition authorities was beyond hearing. In my view the European Union is well advides to switch to open source to break free from an anarchist company that poses a serious issue to a democratic rule because of its autistic and anti-social behaviour in lobbying, esp. as it is not at home here.

The domino effect and their lobbying are a deadly mix. The Commission get converted from its former lazy enforcement policy. The Union needs to be much tougher with Microsoft than it was before unless the company complies with the authorities and embraces competition.

[Lerianis]

The problem is that Microsoft HAS embraced competition.... the other problem is that Microsoft is so big and powerful (money-wise and otherwise) that only a sheer IDIOT would be willing to take them on, or someone who has just as much money as them, if not more (Google).

[Seaspray0]

Chabig83, we are not missinformed. There is a monopoly involved with apple. You cannot play "paid" music downloaded from itunes on any mp3 player other than ipod and you can't play it through any other software other than itunes. Since music downloaded from itunes now is a majority distributor of music, this is a monopoly. By refusing to license the drm to other mp3 players, apple guarantees thier monopoly in the mp3 player market as well. Apple is presenting a clear abusive barrier to competition. And now that they are including safari in itunes updates, they are also guilty of distributing malware and are abusing their monopoly position for force their browser onto your desktop. Does all this sound familiar? It should. Microsoft was convicted of monopoly abuse for similar infractions. I'll be laughing at the macboi's when this finally comes to justice.

[MaLvaDo39]

Apple has pushed to strip DRM out of the music on the iTunes store.

You ones attacking Apple need to redirect your aim at the music cartels.

Misinformed kids...do some research first.

[Hank Wells]

My gripe with Microsoft is it aims it monopoly at Europe. We paid twice the price for the same thing. I could also point out while they say well we have to translate it Into another language this is not true in the case of U.K. we get the Americian version. Lets not forget we are unable to buy the cheaper versions of Vista (and XP before that) direct from the USA. If we try they will refuse and tell us to buy it in the U.K. its a nice cash cow for them and is also a monopoly.

From a cheap mail order discount store try this in US dollars; Vista Home Premium $420.66, Microsoft Office 2007 Home and Student retail $161, Vista Ultimate; single user version $702.66. It reeks of "We want your money" all over again.

Apple is no better, but as they are not as popular due to the extreme prices in Europe.

That is why Open Source is popular and why pirate copys are so easy top obtain. Adode Photoshop CS4 very close to $3000. Based on our prices and yours would yopu say we are getting ripped off?