Post #146,887
3/18/04 7:23:38 AM
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EC fails to reach agreement with MS
All your very long procedures are now belong to us.
[link|http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3523232.stm|http://news.bbc.co.u...iness/3523232.stm]
Even if, as I suspect, MS will weasel their way to a token gesture by the EU, it's still a kick in the goolies.
Peter [link|http://www.debian.org|Shill For Hire] [link|http://www.kuro5hin.org|There is no K5 Cabal] [link|http://guildenstern.dyndns.org|Home Page - Now with added Zing!]
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Post #146,940
3/18/04 1:52:42 PM
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Expect to see Microsoft refuse to sell in the EU
And claim that it is the only way that they can "comply".
They can afford no sales for a few weeks. The resulting firestorm could well cause the EU resolve to weaken substantially.
Don't think that Microsoft would do this? They did it in the USA a few years back, and the government blinked.
Cheers, Ben
"good ideas and bad code build communities, the other three combinations do not" - [link|http://archives.real-time.com/pipermail/cocoon-devel/2000-October/003023.html|Stefano Mazzocchi]
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Post #146,941
3/18/04 1:54:17 PM
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Sadly, I agree.
Peter [link|http://www.debian.org|Shill For Hire] [link|http://www.kuro5hin.org|There is no K5 Cabal] [link|http://guildenstern.dyndns.org|Home Page - Now with added Zing!]
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Post #146,956
3/18/04 3:14:23 PM
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Another possible outcome
The resulting firestorm might not be aimed at the folks at the EU. Also, if you refuse to sell... what happens to the status of your IP in the jurisdiction in question? IP laws Over There are not the same as over here...
--\n-------------------------------------------------------------------\n* Jack Troughton jake at consultron.ca *\n* [link|http://consultron.ca|http://consultron.ca] [link|irc://irc.ecomstation.ca|irc://irc.ecomstation.ca] *\n* Kingston Ontario Canada [link|news://news.consultron.ca|news://news.consultron.ca] *\n-------------------------------------------------------------------
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Post #146,958
3/18/04 3:16:43 PM
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Won't do them much good without the source code...
...and legal liability for international corps with a branch in the U.S. jurisdiction.
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Post #146,959
3/18/04 3:18:41 PM
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Aye, that's true
The other possible outcome is a massive move away from Windows. It's neither the same place nor the same time as when they pulled that stunt in the US. The move has already started... that kind of attempt at blackmail might tip a lot of people on the fence over to the side that Ernie Ball's on.
--\n-------------------------------------------------------------------\n* Jack Troughton jake at consultron.ca *\n* [link|http://consultron.ca|http://consultron.ca] [link|irc://irc.ecomstation.ca|irc://irc.ecomstation.ca] *\n* Kingston Ontario Canada [link|news://news.consultron.ca|news://news.consultron.ca] *\n-------------------------------------------------------------------
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Post #146,961
3/18/04 3:30:50 PM
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I think Microsoft knows this...
...and will not play "chicken" with the EU.
Instead, we'll see a stripped down, "crippled" version of XP, without media player, costing maybe 1 euro less than the "full" verson - and major functionality will not work until Media Player is downloaded and installed off of Microsoft's website.
Kinda like the IE-less version of Win 9x that was released a bit back.
"I'll stop calling this crew 'Orwellian' when they stop using 1984 as an operations manual." - J. Bradford DeLong
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Post #147,011
3/18/04 7:27:32 PM
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I dunno
I have a wee feeling that the competition bureau at the EU might take exception to that, unlike the spineless at the DOJ.
--\n-------------------------------------------------------------------\n* Jack Troughton jake at consultron.ca *\n* [link|http://consultron.ca|http://consultron.ca] [link|irc://irc.ecomstation.ca|irc://irc.ecomstation.ca] *\n* Kingston Ontario Canada [link|news://news.consultron.ca|news://news.consultron.ca] *\n-------------------------------------------------------------------
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Post #147,012
3/18/04 7:35:38 PM
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I didn't say Microsoft knew *THAT*... ;-)
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Post #147,024
3/18/04 10:27:57 PM
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It's a chance at least to update an old tagline...
Or at least a change to an existing one.
"You have moved your mouse. Please install Media Player and reboot for this change to take effect..."
John. Busy lad.
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