On 2009-06-12 07:06:02 -0400, Caleb IX
<Caleb_IX@no-mx.forums.opensuse.org> said:
>
> 'Working to Fulfill our Legal Obligations in Europe for Windows 7 -
> Microsoft On The Issues' (http://tinyurl.com/mt7aty)
>
> "We’ve also worked hard to ensure that Windows 7 will promote
> choice and competition in the computer industry, in keeping with our
> Windows Principles. We’ve held hands-on workshops with hundreds
> of industry partners to ensure they have the information they need to
> build products that work well with Windows 7. Customers running Windows
> 7 will be able to choose compatible products from among literally
> thousands of computer manufacturers, peripheral manufacturers, and
> software vendors.
>
> The worldwide launch of Windows 7 is fast approaching, but a pending
> legal case raises concerns about the sufficiency of competition among
> the Web browsers that are available to Windows users in Europe. In
> January the European Commission provided its preliminary view that
> Microsoft’s “bundling” of Internet Explorer in Windows
> violated European competition law."
>
> Thats nice for the browsers...but still not enough...there is still no
> free choice with the operating system...
Microsoft has certainly done it's share to create and sustain a
monopoly with Windows as an OS and with Microsoft Office, but it's just
not what it once was, with other options more visible and available
than ever before. The whole EU versus Microsoft thing is comical to me,
in how far the EU keeps going to achieve something that has nothing to
do with monopolies, but more to do with punishing Microsoft. Microsoft
keeps giving them what they ask for, but not what they want. The EU
doesn't want MS to stop shipping IE as a default browser, they want to
use Microsoft to promote competing browsers. MS offers a version of
Windows without IE as a browser, and that isn't enough for the EU. The
EU wants an installation wizard that will offer a choice of browsers
and install one as an alternative to IE. The want MS to either bundle
alternative browsers with Windows, or offer a way to download an
alternative at install time. That's hilarious.
Think of a government insisting that Toyota not only ship a car with no
built in engine, but offer installation of competitors' engines at
point of sale...
--
Keith Kastorff