EU fines Microsoft $731 million for broken promise, warns others

Saw that, I am taking a wild guess MS will fight like crazy against it. Not sure it is worth it for EU to go after them so much, their %age has dropped insanely.
 
paradiseweb said:
Saw that, I am taking a wild guess MS will fight like crazy against it. Not sure it is worth it for EU to go after them so much, their %age has dropped insanely.
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MS will most likely just pay the fine as the commission will be able to prove MS broke a LEGALLY binding agreement, so it would cost MS more in legal fees

In all, the company has now paid a total of 2.2 billion euro (£1.9 billion) in fines to the commission since it began its first investigation into the company's abuse of market power linked to its dominant Windows operating systems in 1998.
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I think MS has to learn even as big as they are they have to comply with the laws of countries they trade in and if they break LEGALLY binding agreements they must pay the consequences
 
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Didn't read the article, but from the two sentences you posted this sounds like a ridiculous charge.

You are a software-maker. Of course you'd be pushing your own product through it. They didn't offer a choice? Anyone can go and install whatever browser they want on Windows.
 
Artashes said:
Didn't read the article, but from the two sentences you posted this sounds like a ridiculous charge.

You are a software-maker. Of course you'd be pushing your own product through it. They didn't offer a choice? Anyone can go and install whatever browser they want on Windows.
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but Microsoft signed a LEGAL contract/agreement to provide its users a choice of browsers,which they did on some versions but this choice was left out on windows 7 service pack 1 between mid-2011 and mid-2012 for some reason, so MS broke the agreement. the file will of most likely took into account on how many window 7 installs were sold in that time frame.
 
I think in the days ahead the level of being interesting is going to rise. We have been watching this close and it is all talk around the office as to how it is going to pan out. Of course paying the fine and moving on is easy for a large company but actually showing the remorse and lesson learned is better (as a decent company stand).
 
Acalita said:
I think in the days ahead the level of being interesting is going to rise. We have been watching this close and it is all talk around the office as to how it is going to pan out. Of course paying the fine and moving on is easy for a large company but actually showing the remorse and lesson learned is better (as a decent company stand).
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but all MS has done so far when they have been fined since 1998 is just pay the fines and show no remorse and i dare say they will continue to break agreements and then just pay their fines.
 
paradiseweb said:
what about the default broswers on android phones and iphones? nothing from the EU about that
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because if you go into google play (android) and iTunes (iphones) you can download apps of other browsers.
i have a blackberry and Blackberry Playbook and hate the default browser so i downloaded the maxthon browser on my playbook and never browse on my blackberry
 
paradiseweb said:
Yes, and with MS you can go download other browsers as well.
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but with MS when they signed the LEGAL agreements they agreed to give users a chose at the install stage, which they failed to do with windows 7 service pack 1, therefore breaking a legal agreement.

but it this way. someone comes to you and says they want 5 dedicated servers and they make you sign a legal contract/agreement to provide these. you sign along with them, they pay you, but then you dont provide the servers, so they take you to court and provide the legally signed agreement. what do you think will happen? would the court say to you it OK. i dare say they would fine you for breach of contract.

its the same with MS they signed a legal document to provide a service to its users which they failed to do so got fined for it
 
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I got it, they signed a LEGAL document. I just think the document was mistaken to begin with, yes they broke that LEGAL document, does not make the idea behind the document valid.
 
paradiseweb said:
I got it, they signed a LEGAL document. I just think the document was mistaken to begin with, yes they broke that LEGAL document, does not make the idea behind the document valid.
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i bet that Microsofts Legal agents went over the document with a fine toothcomb and had weeks of it going back and forth until both sides were happy before it was ever signed. so they would have been fully aware of any penalties if they broke it
 
The EU/EC is just full of sh*t and hot air.
And no, i don't like Microsoft at all. I'm all for fining Microsoft, even fining it with a much bigger fine, for selling crap software. Still, the EU/EC is full of sh*t and hot air.
 
Yes, we've only been in the EU for six years and i think overall it brings more negatives than positives. And some of the EU regulations are just stupid. And they keep producing more and more of these.
 
I'm sorry, but I don't get it, legal or not. Who cares if it's service pack 1 or service pack 96? You can download any browser you want on Windows 7 ( for FREE) in a matter of minutes. This is almost as ridiculous as Apple's patent on rounded corners. :smash:
 
SenseiSteve said:
I'm sorry, but I don't get it, legal or not. Who cares if it's service pack 1 or service pack 96? You can download any browser you want on Windows 7 ( for FREE) in a matter of minutes. This is almost as ridiculous as Apple's patent on rounded corners. :smash:
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Its not the fact that after installing windows and IE you can then go and search for a browser. its the fact that MS signed an agreement to offer users a choice at the install stage which on all versions apart from service pack 1 users would get a pop up of http://www.browserchoice.eu/BrowserChoice/browserchoice_en.htm so that smaller browsers would get a chance in the marketplace (fair competition). which they broke the agreement.

personally on my PC i have Firefox (never user IE since version 6) I also have Comodo Dragon and on my tablet I have maxthon
 
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