EU Fines Microsoft Record $1.3B

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The European Union fined Microsoft a record $1.3 billion for what it called unreasonable prices for interoperability information. Odd that they would use the term “unreasonable prices” when handing down a $1.3 billion fine.

EU regulators said the company charged "unreasonable prices" until last October to software developers who wanted to make products compatible with the Windows desktop operating system.
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Is Microsoft the EU version of a tobacco company? This is getting tired.
 
I really can't stand the EU. They put Microsoft through so much crap it's ridiculous.
 
If Microsoft hadn't dicked around in opening up the APIs, they wouldn't be in this situation. Besides that, charging nearly 4% of revenue to have access to APIs / protocols so that you software can work just as well on Windows as Microsoft's own does is ridiculous.
 
They been going after Intel also, I just think both should pull out and stop selling there wares over there, then when the europeans start pirating microsofts software Microsoft should sue the EU for not doing enough to stop it.
 
I don't know much about what the EU is but from all the MS bashing they just seem like a bunch of assholes.. lets nuke em :D
 
I think we'll be seeing Windows Vista EU Edition soon lol

No games, no browser, no media player, no notepad, no wordpad, and you have to use the command line for most functions. :p
 
I am sick and tired of the EU, considering that the EU has many member nations who practice protectionist policies, have state run monopolies in industries that are deregulated in North America and generally are a bunch of socialist hippies. How dare they hand out huge anti-trust fines!
 
It's too bad the EU is trating Microsoft like it's own bank. Microsoft should just not pay them and see what happens when they beg them to come back because no one has an operating system.
 
Riftsaw said:
I think we'll be seeing Windows Vista EU Edition soon lol

No games, no browser, no media player, no notepad, no wordpad, and you have to use the command line for most functions. :p
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Maybe we can get it here in the states. All the OS but without the crap! What's not to like. Slap on a $49.99 price tag and I'm sold.
 
digitalfreak said:
If Microsoft hadn't dicked around in opening up the APIs, they wouldn't be in this situation.
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On one hand the EC claims that MS's IP is "worthless" and in the same breath they can somehow justify the ridiculously high daily fines because they know full well the IP is very valuable. Apparently the IP is so valuable that it was reasonable to impose $2B in fines. :rolleyes:

Which is it?
 
Diablo2K said:
, I just think both should pull out and stop selling there wares over there,.
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Why should I suffer because of a bunch of moronic money grabbing lawyers going after a large US company? I've written to my local and european representatives objecting in the strongest terms to this entire line of persecution of Microsoft. As a European, I can do no more.

This action neither represents the wishes, nor is supported by the European public. It's a handful of EU lawyer quango ripoff merchants pretending to act on our behalf. It's sickening.

Doug
 
I think they should cease operations in the EU. Honestly, it doesn't seem there is much profitability there, especially with all these outrageous fines.
 
Fuckers. I hope MS does something crazy about this. Like buy a nuke and ship it in a box with those 1.3 billion.
 
djellison said:
Why should I suffer because of a bunch of moronic money grabbing lawyers going after a large US company? I've written to my local and european representatives objecting in the strongest terms to this entire line of persecution of Microsoft. As a European, I can do no more.

This action neither represents the wishes, nor is supported by the European public. It's a handful of EU lawyer quango ripoff merchants pretending to act on our behalf. It's sickening.

Doug
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I am of direct European descent but born in Canada, just to get it out of the way. But anyway, yea, the EU is making you guys inevitably suffer but just the same, Microsoft is seemingly being forced out. If Microsoft pulls out sooner than later, less damage to them. And for you guys I can assume there is always options of buying online, be it physical disc or digital download.
 
This brings up a concern.

Lets say MS goes ahead and pays up. Will the price of MS software in the EU be affected by this? Will it also have an impact on prices in other regions?
 
ICOM said:
Maybe we can get it here in the states. All the OS but without the crap! What's not to like. Slap on a $49.99 price tag and I'm sold.
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You mean an ADDITIONAL $49.99 to the price, right? Cause that's the smart thing for Microsoft to do. Screw the EU another way.
 
Riftsaw said:
Lets say MS goes ahead and pays up. Will the price of MS software in the EU be affected by this? Will it also have an impact on prices in other regions?
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MS already has funds set aside for fines. The problem is that the EC seems willing to take up any crackpot competitor complaint against MS, and levy totally unreasonable fines... forever, at least as long as the soviet brussels regime is in power.

IOW, the current fines wouldn't necessarily result in any price changes (although they should in the EU), but unlimited fines for absolutely stupid reasons will probably affect other region pricing eventually.
 
pxc said:
MS already has funds set aside for fines. The problem is that the EC seems willing to take up any crackpot competitor complaint against MS, and levy totally unreasonable fines... forever, at least as long as the soviet brussels regime is in power.

IOW, the current fines wouldn't necessarily result in any price changes (although they should in the EU), but unlimited fines for absolutely stupid reasons will probably affect other region pricing eventually.
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Cool, thanks for the heads up.
 
It wouldn't be screwing ' the EU'. It would be screwing EU customers, who didn't ask for this.

Frankly - if it could be done whereby direct sales in the EU were terminated, and EU customers simply ordered from the US - I'd be happy with that. The only problem is that the government here would then charge import duty AND 17.5% VAT, so the EU ( via the UK government ) would still get their cut of the cake. If that could be avoided (and god knows, the 90% of Ebay stuff that's new electronics goods shipped from the far east manages to avoid it somehow)

The only challenge then is how you figure OEM licenses distributed with new PC's etc. That might be a sticking point.

But to be honest, given that they're about to stop selling XP anyway - I'm not sure what M'soft products I want to buy. Maybe Office. I'm loving iWork on my Mac though.

What the EU should be doing, is going after people who genuinely shaft EU customers with hideous prices when no real alternative is available. Adobe is probably the worst.

There's nothing that the EU accused M'soft of that I don't see Apple doing. Bundle OS with Browser. Check. Bundle Media player. Check. Tie media player in with some hardware...wow, even M'soft don't do that. I don't care, because I've got a choice - and I chose to by an Apple machine recently - but EU customers shouldn't get shafted because these lawyers are trying to screw over their pet hate company.
 
I wonder what the EU will say if Microsoft simply don't pay the fine.
 
Just as a point of interest, people suggesting prices should go up here in the EU because of this.

UK : Vista Ultimate Retail - £281.68 (before tax at 17.5%)
US : Vista Ultimate Retails - $329.99 or, at todays rates, £165.90

Currently, in the UK, we pay 70% more than the US does for Vista.

To buy Vista Ultimate now, would cost me £330.98 - or $658.37

I think it's fair to say we're already paying SIGNIFICANTLY more than in the US.

Doug
 
I wish Microsoft would stop selling products to the EU, pull all their operations out, block the entire European IP range for everything including Windows Update, and mark every European copy of Windows as un-genuine. Now that would be funny to watch! Wonder how quick they'd change their tune? :D
 
InorganicMatter said:
I wish Microsoft would stop selling products to the EU, pull all their operations out, block the entire European IP range for everything including Windows Update, and mark every European copy of Windows as un-genuine. Now that would be funny to watch! Wonder how quick they'd change their tune? :D
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This wouldn't change the EU's mind. They would probably then fine MS for not playing nice :rolleyes:
 
I will laugh the day Microsoft gets tired for the EU's BS and just pulls all sales and support out of the affected rigons.

You can tell me how to do it and live with how I do it, or you can tell me what to do and remember I'm not responsable for my actions... I think microsoft should take that view to them.
 
InorganicMatter said:
I wish Microsoft would stop selling products to the EU, pull all their operations out, block the entire European IP range for everything including Windows Update, and mark every European copy of Windows as un-genuine. Now that would be funny to watch! Wonder how quick they'd change their tune? :D
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It would be awesome. The EU itself would come to a standstill 30 days after because of the fact that Windows would cease working.
 
InorganicMatter said:
I wish Microsoft would stop selling products to the EU, pull all their operations out, block the entire European IP range for everything including Windows Update, and mark every European copy of Windows as un-genuine. Now that would be funny to watch! Wonder how quick they'd change their tune? :D
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QFT. I don't particularly care for some of the things Microsoft does on the Windows front, but at the same time unfair is unfair, no matter how biased I may be against them.

Maybe the EU should start converting everyone over to RedHat. I'm sure their new head guy would love the business.
 
Seriously, if the EU continues with these fines, it may become more profitable for MS to stop doing business there altogether. And since they are a company out to make money, I'm sure they will quickly realize when they reach that point.
 
EU is at it again. I hope the software industries pulls out of the EU, especially Microsoft.
 
djellison said:
Just as a point of interest, people suggesting prices should go up here in the EU because of this.

UK : Vista Ultimate Retail - £281.68 (before tax at 17.5%)
US : Vista Ultimate Retails - $329.99 or, at todays rates, £165.90

Currently, in the UK, we pay 70% more than the US does for Vista.

To buy Vista Ultimate now, would cost me £330.98 - or $658.37

I think it's fair to say we're already paying SIGNIFICANTLY more than in the US.

Doug
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Wow. And I thought MS was price gouging the US for "superfluous" software. You guys are getting bent over royally if you pay that much.
 
Explain again why I, and every XP using person in Europe should get completely shafted because of some lawyers that we didn't vote for and don't support? I fail to see the logic. We've paid for XP. We've contributed to the US economy directly (by 70% more, per license, than any American), as a result. And so far I've got two people wanting a nuclear bomb sent my way, and I've been called a Nazi.

Bear in mind, this entire action was infact instigated it 1993 by the requests of Novell and then Sun in 1998.
 
Seriously. How can a the EU an organization representing countries like France one of the most Socialized nations out side Cuba and China then go after any Monopoly. Second Who are they to decide what a good price is for those API's. Microsoft is an American company built on a free market, if they have problems with Microsoft's pricing of anything why don't they just ban their sales till Microsoft fix's the issue. These fines are their way of having their cake and eating it to, and go against every basis for which our economy is based on.
 
ICOM said:
Wow. And I thought MS was price gouging the US for "superfluous" software. You guys are getting bent over royally if you pay that much.
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The guys in the UK pay more for everything, thats one of the perks of living in such an enviroment.

They pay 6 dollars a gallon for gas too, but you don't see the EU hunting down OPEC and it's buddies.
 
Microsoft has been found to be a bad boy by both the US and the EU . The US sanctions are thought to be inadequate by many people and states and amount to less than a slap on the wrist.
Nine states (California, Connecticut, Iowa, Florida, Kansas, Minnesota, Utah, Virginia and Massachusetts) and the District of Columbia (which had been pursuing the case together with the DOJ) did not agree with the settlement, arguing that it did not go far enough to curb Microsoft's anti-competitive business practices.
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The EU sanctions seem more appropriate for what amounts to MS dragging its feet on providing documentation that would allow other programs/OSes to communicate properly with windows.
 
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