Microsoft in new EU action

[afraser2k]

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4740638.stm

Microsoft rivals have filed a complaint at the European Commission, saying the firm competes unfairly and is dragging its heels over a 2004 court ruling.

They want an end to practices they say reinforce Microsoft's monopolies, and for it to comply with the court ruling forcing it to share software codes.

Seems like the group of companies that are filing the new complaint have got fed up with Microsoft continuing it's monopoly on the market. This time it doesn't seem to be about a particular component but rather their general business practice.

Wonder if this will delay Vista/Office 12?

 

[afraser2k]

I think search engine companies should sue Google for monopolising the search engine market.

Seems like this action though is just to get the EU to enforce it's original ruling, rather than waiting for some lengthy legal battle with Microsoft.

 

[afraser2k]

Well it could be said most of the Linux applications also provide the source code and the problem Real faces with RealPlayer was that it faced an uphill struggle to develop a product that was as fast as WMP due to Microsoft using internal code. We all know how many here complain about RealPlayer performance (though I think it's a decent media player) and open code would improve that, well, in theory.

Personally I'm on the fence on this. I know Microsoft haven't been the most ethical company but their products, despite their flaws (security or otherwise), is still more usable than the competition's.