Deja Vu All Over Again

[link|http://news.com.com/Microsoft+tells+judge+of+harm+in+changing+Windows/2100-1014_3-5391715.html?tag=st_lh|http://news.com.com/...15.html?tag=st_lh]

Microsoft will suffer serious harm if it is forced to provide a version of Windows without Windows Media Player audio-visual software, its lawyer told a European Union court on Friday.

The Commission found that Microsoft violated antitrust law by using its Windows operating system monopoly to hurt competitors, but the company wants penalties frozen until its appeal ends four or more years from now.

Microsoft has already paid a record fine of 497 million euros ($616.7 million).

"Microsoft is forced to create an adaptation of Windows that it would never consider creating otherwise and it must label it with its valuable Windows trademark," Microsoft lawyer Jean-Francois Bellis told the court. "It strikes at the very heart of Microsoft's business model and design of Windows."

Linda Averett of Microsoft said that many Web sites and software products will not work without Windows Media Player. Consumers who buy computers with Windows "are very likely to feel deceived when they find that Web sites don't work."

She said that consumers will be uncertain how Windows might change in the future.
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You mean they're not uncertain now? Sounds like the return of the browser wars and we all saw how well that worked out for consumers.

Post #177,357 by tuberculosis 10/1/04 1:36:20 PM Reply	Deja Vu All Over Again [link\|http://news.com.com/Microsoft+tells+judge+of+harm+in+changing+Windows/2100-1014_3-5391715.html?tag=st_lh\|http://news.com.com/...15.html?tag=st_lh] Microsoft will suffer serious harm if it is forced to provide a version of Windows without Windows Media Player audio-visual software, its lawyer told a European Union court on Friday. The Commission found that Microsoft violated antitrust law by using its Windows operating system monopoly to hurt competitors, but the company wants penalties frozen until its appeal ends four or more years from now. Microsoft has already paid a record fine of 497 million euros ($616.7 million). "Microsoft is forced to create an adaptation of Windows that it would never consider creating otherwise and it must label it with its valuable Windows trademark," Microsoft lawyer Jean-Francois Bellis told the court. "It strikes at the very heart of Microsoft's business model and design of Windows." Linda Averett of Microsoft said that many Web sites and software products will not work without Windows Media Player. Consumers who buy computers with Windows "are very likely to feel deceived when they find that Web sites don't work." She said that consumers will be uncertain how Windows might change in the future. ======= You mean they're not uncertain now? Sounds like the return of the browser wars and we all saw how well that worked out for consumers. That was lovely cheese. --Wallace, The Wrong Trousers
Post #177,369 by ben_tilly 10/1/04 2:59:35 PM Reply	The cycle starts again... About the use of language: it is impossible to sharpen a pencil with a blunt axe. It is equally vain to try to do it with ten blunt axes instead. -- Edsger W. Dijkstra
Post #177,409 by warmachine 10/1/04 7:23:42 PM Reply	Next stage: make them angry Microsoft will demonstrate their WMP-less Windows that is so blatantly crippled, the Commissioner will explode and rant in public. Microsoft will claim bias, the annulment will be granted and a new commissioner will restart the investigation. By the time it's all finished, it's be far too late. Matthew Greet But we must kill them. We must incinerate them. Pig after pig, cow after cow, village after village, army after army. And they call me an assassin. What do you call it when the assassins accuse the assassin? They lie. They lie and we must be merciful to those who lie. - Colonol Kurtz, Apocalypse Now.
Post #177,450 by Ashton 10/1/04 11:00:36 PM Reply	Will US courts charge royalties for using our scripts?

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