Perhaps, the US should start harassing EU companies over frivolous anti-trust lawsuits such as what happened with MSFT and is currently happening with Oracle. This would cause the EU competition commission to think twice…and could recoup some of the billions of dollars they stole from US companies through unjustified fines. For the last time, any nitwit can download and install any browser they want. I am so sick of this crap with Europeans… Now the same BS is happening with Oracle. MYSQL is open source…anyone can start a business with it. anyone can update it. Americans should wake up and realize that Europeans are no longer allies.
How familiar are you with EU anti-trust laws? The same ultra-stringent standards apply to all European countries and, in fact, I think that these standards force giant European countries to be much more dynamic and innovative. Companies such as Saint-Globain, VW etc… Have shown serious innovation which eventually matriculates to our side. Whereas you tend to see a trend in American companies that shows complacency and, what seems to be a half-step behind the curve.
So, you are saying that forcing MSFT to place other browsers on equal footing is supposed to increase innovation? What I see is overbearing government control and a method for transferring billions of dollars to the pockets of politicians. This is corruption waiting to happen. So I guess the EU will be giving this money to the harmed competitors…no. So, I guess the EU will be giving out a tax rebate to each purchaser of Windows…no. In theory these laws/vendettas help increase innovation…in practice, they add to bureaucratic power and are used as a political tool for the influence peddlers. I would also say that calling them laws is being generous.
Also, I should mention that MSFT wanted to exclude all browsers from Windows. This should have “legally” resolved the case as there would no longer be bias. The EU did no accept this.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hG2CfCNAqdPhFu-F-Ubnx7ZCBNhgD9CKGSL00 I like the analogy used in this article: “It is as if you went to the supermarket and they only offered you one brand of shampoo on the shelf, and all the other choices are hidden out the back, and not everyone knows about them,” she said. “What we are saying today is that all the brands should be on the shelf.”
I don’t know how I feel about that analogy. That’s like saying a potential car buyer at a Ford dealership has been wronged by that Ford dealership for not offering any brand new GM models and for not providing directions to the nearest GM dealership (in this case, Mozilla or Chrome). YOU should know how to get to the GM dealership, after all, you managed to get into your current car and get to the Ford dealership on your own (operate a computer and the IE browser). If Neelie Kroes wants to have a most ridiculous analogy competition about this, I’m in.
psn0706 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I don’t know how I feel about that analogy. > That’s like saying a potential car buyer at a Ford > dealership has been wronged by that Ford > dealership for not offering any brand new GM > models and for not providing directions to the > nearest GM dealership (in this case, Mozilla or > Chrome). YOU should know how to get to the GM > dealership, after all, you managed to get into > your current car and get to the Ford dealership on > your own (operate a computer and the IE browser). > > If Neelie Kroes wants to have a most ridiculous > analogy competition about this, I’m in. I think the reality of the situation falls between the two analogies. While you SHOULD know how to get to the Ford dealership, what if you are not as automotive savvy as the average shopper? Should you be penalized for it? I dont know the answer, just food for thought.
king_kong Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5 > hG2CfCNAqdPhFu-F-Ubnx7ZCBNhgD9CKGSL00 > > I like the analogy used in this article: > > “It is as if you went to the supermarket and they > only offered you one brand of shampoo on the > shelf, and all the other choices are hidden out > the back, and not everyone knows about them,” she > said. “What we are saying today is that all the > brands should be on the shelf.” Supermarkets don’t get fined $2 billion dollars for not having every single brand of shampoo on the shelf. They sell what they can make a profit on.
to make this shampoo analogy even more absurd. Microsoft gives away the shampoo for free…and once you get this shampoo for free you are able to get any other shampoo in the world for free. They are fined $2.5 billion dollars for giving away shampoo. I hope Germany gets global aspirations again.
nuppal Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > psn0706 Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > I don’t know how I feel about that analogy. > > That’s like saying a potential car buyer at a > Ford > > dealership has been wronged by that Ford > > dealership for not offering any brand new GM > > models and for not providing directions to the > > nearest GM dealership (in this case, Mozilla or > > Chrome). YOU should know how to get to the GM > > dealership, after all, you managed to get into > > your current car and get to the Ford dealership > on > > your own (operate a computer and the IE > browser). > > > > If Neelie Kroes wants to have a most ridiculous > > analogy competition about this, I’m in. > > I think the reality of the situation falls between > the two analogies. > > While you SHOULD know how to get to the Ford > dealership, what if you are not as automotive > savvy as the average shopper? Should you be > penalized for it? > > > I dont know the answer, just food for thought. Yea, my analogy breaks down because you see different brand cars on the road all the time while you don’t mozilla or chrome on the web, unless you’ve downloaded them or look at another person’s screen. You can go back and forth on this all day. I just didn’t like her analogy because like mine, it’s flawed.