

Microsoft suffers stunning EU antitrust defeat  - Ultrapreneur
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/reuters/business_microsoft_eu_col

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BrandonM
I think Microsoft makes a lot of crappy products. I think their key offerings
are overpriced. Their FUD tactics do not impress me. I cannot, however, agree
with this ruling. This quote really bothered me:

 _Asked how the Commission would assess progress in the Microsoft case, she
said: "A market level of much less than 95 percent would be a way of measuring
success ... You can't draw a line and say exactly 50 (percent) is correct, but
a significant drop in market share is what we would like to see."_

That, to me, seems entirely wrong. They're talking about a market where, for a
long time, Microsoft was the _only_ one providing usable services. Instead of
encouraging other OS producers to improve their offerings, they're instead
trying to level the playing field by levying penalties against Microsoft. This
is an utterly counterproductive way to improve diversity and competitiveness.
It reminds me of a scene from _Atlas Shrugged_.

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hello_moto
IBM, Oracle and some other big software house actually charge more than
Microsoft (sometime even double). I know this because I've talked to one of
the MS product unit manager regarding MS prices.

I don't think there's any company that has offering such as MSDN subscription.

In the sense of their products are crappy.... I'd say that is a statement with
no reasonable arguments. Vista Ultimate comes with Windows Media Center which
is far more usable and better than Apple Front Row.

I would extend my argument further that there is no software company out there
that can provide the services/features as good as MS given its size. Most
companies died before they can even reach half of MS features. You can argue
that's a feature bloat but I need them rather than a set of dis-integrate
software with poor interop.

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BrandonM
You're right, I didn't really give any solid reasons for what I said, but I
didn't intend to. My point was to state that _I, personally,_ do not like
Microsoft, but I am still opposed to the decision that was made against them.

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gwenhwyfaer
About the only advantage of the lack of democracy in the European Commission
is that it's very difficult to buy people who have security of tenure...

I don't know that the term "stunning" is wholly appropriate (yes, I know it
was Yahoo's choice) - perhaps "comprehensive" or "thorough" would be better,
as I don't think anyone in the EU was particularly surprised at the outcome. I
found what happened (or not) in the US much more confounding.

