Microsoft’s sudden conversion to openness and interoperability last week did not impress the European Commission. Today, the antitrust-enforcing arm of the European Union imposed a $1.35 billion fine (899 million Euros) on Microsoft for failing to comply with a 2004 order to supply interoperability data for its products to its competitors. That brings the total fine to $2.5 billion.
At a press conference EC commissioner Neelie Kroes said of Microsoft’s last-minute overture last week: “We don’t want talk, we want compliance. If you cheat the rules, you will be caught.” She also noted that was Microsoft’s fifth announcement about improving interoperability.
One thing is for sure, if Microsoft does not start acting sincerely in its interoperability efforts, the EC will just keep on zinging it with fines.
The Cynical American business mindset versus The European Idealism
Wow, just imagine the interest on this fine…
When is MSFT due to pay the fine anyway? Can they keep appealing forever to delay payment?
I will know this is real when the EU actually confirms cash has been received or when the seize the cash from MSFT cold fingers.
$1.3 billion is a good chunk of change. Ouch.
Anyone feeling a (not unjustifiable) instinct to cheer at this news might want to consider that the $1.4bn will be going to an even less deserving cause, if that were possible - propping up uncompetitive European agribusiness at the expense of the third world, with a healthy slice taken to keep the bureaucratic gravy train running.
They totally deserve it. They don’t want other people to make software. They want to encroach on every single last little bit of software market no matter how small or insignificant, until they have wiped everyone out.
Collectively, we should never let up on Microsoft until they cease to exist.
Chris, you are a moron.
China not doing this to Microsoft, for the record — to date.
They even, unsuccessfully may I add, tried to usurp Linux. That’s what they do. They’re not team players. They’re not community members. They’re nasty, scary freakish nerds bent on world domination. Even if these fines aren’t fair, I’m glad society in general has made serious efforts to stop them.
Describing MS as wanting to dominate while their competitors struggle I would guess describes most readers of TC who run businesses, so I don’t think they should be criticized for that. It’s capitalism, sheesh.
The real problem is that the free market system has shown it can malfunction when a monopoly exists - the real issue is how to handle that.
The Irony is that if MS made good on it’s promises to truly be more open it may be able to satisfy the EU, and actually enhance their business in the process. Some companies are wary of being customers specifically for the lack of openness, especially the developer community which is a strategic and influential group for them to win over.
MS has been doing business for so long under the same mode of thinking it’s difficult for them to perceive how some tactics are no longer effective.
Chris, you are a moron. Please stay in Canada. No need to move back here.
Why even pay it? The EU is trying to resurrect it’s inflation-laden economies with subsidies from Microsoft.
why always microsoft on target,where lotz of other companies sucks like anything
Like them or not you have to give credit to Microsoft for creating an operating system platform that has allowed computers to become commonplace in homes and businesses. Not only that, but they allow anyone to write software or build hardware to run on that platform, and don’t cause licensing fees, etc. allowing for thousands of hardware/software businesses to emerge.
The EU’s fines do seem quite steep, but the biggest problem is that they do not give clear goals for Microsoft to accomplish to satisfy the EU’s requirements for openness. I doubt Microsoft will pay one penny as they have clear competitors, and even the biggest anti-Microsoft critics have to admit they have gotten much better in the last few years.
I think we can all agree that they’ve crossed in to the realm of extortion, now.
At what point does it become not worth it anymore to try and be reasonable with the EU when all their ideas seem to be borderline communist?
wow! thats the record fine.
$1.3 billion? that seems to be a little too steep but with the length of time it takes for appeals it seems like Microsoft will have already integrated Yahoo into their online operations which also seems like it will take forever. http://www.whatisgoingonblog.com
Great job EU. I love that quote:
“We don’t want talk, we want compliance. If you cheat the rules, you will be caught.”
When will MS learn that their American way of delaying everything until everyone forgets what the issue was by sending their lawyers and lobbyist doesn’t work (hopefully) outside of the U.S.
Great job by EU.
But I don’t see US doing the same thing…
@10, There’s no need to flame. I’m through paying 70% corporate tax and $5 a gallon for gas. Sorry. I’m not going through that for a life time.
Please stay on topic.
Obviously most people on this board have no clue of what this fine is about. Even after the 2004 fine, Microsoft still did not obey the EU laws, and they got fined for that again.
P.S. the fine money goes to the EU states. All that “propping up uncompetitive European agribusiness” without at least a link to back it up makes you a troll IMHO.
How much business comes from the EU to Microsoft? At some point, it seems like it would become better to just pull out than to pay this level of extortion. 1.35bn? Just because they make a lot, they fine them a lot?
Its extortion….EU and UN, what’s difference? Chris you are not a Moron, you are a Major Moron!
There’s really no way to enforce it. The US won’t recognize this fine and ensure it’s payment. The only recourse is to prohibit sales of Microsoft products and services throughout the EU.
Talk about damaging the local economy.
EU vs. US, period.
@Tom Corbin “There’s really no way to enforce it.” Are you really sure ? You think that Microsoft has no bank account throughout EU ? :-/
Review your worldwide economy manual.
if i was microsoft i would threaten to pull out my business in EU. let see how they cope up…
@greenski EU bolsters its legitimacy by grandstanding on these issues. I would love to see attempt at enforcement and how that would impact the individual EU states thoughts on the matter.
I guess there are the French behind this. Cowards as always.
Btw Chris is a moron indeed.
the most shocking part is 1.35 BILLION dollars now only makes a measly 899 million Euros!
We are fooked!
One has to wonder if there is any technology on the planet more thoroughly documented than Microsoft’s.
The EC can charge whatever it wants, by any decision-making process it sees fit, which should bother anyone who likes technology or any business. The EC are enriching their own bureaucracy; this is an arbitrary tax that works outside of any electoral system or even WTO rules.
The reason Microsoft is dominant is that people — European citizens — have chosen to buy it over other technologies. The EC sees that as a punishable offense.
If I were MS, I’d pull my business from the EU tomorrow. Screw them and their socialism. One week of not offering any MS services or software in the EU would create a sudden change of heart in their petty little socialistic minds.
If MS has the wherewithal to deliver a product that puts someone else’s product out of business… them’s the brakes. Come up with a better product next time. Simple as that. Governments should be protecting you from foreign invaders, not trying to create a level playing field in business. Free enterprise will do that on its own.
Right, pull out from EU.
“We don’t want talk, we want compliance.”
That that quote isn’t seen as troubling, is, well, troubling. Is this Neelie person elected? Whatever, glad I’m not there.
You american people teached us that monopoly is evil. Do you remember S.O. Standard Oil? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_Oil
“By 1890, Standard Oil controlled 88% of the refined oil flows in the United States. The state of Ohio successfully sued Standard, compelling the dissolution of the trust in 1892…On May 15, 1911, the US Supreme Court upheld the lower court judgment and declared the Standard Oil group to be an “unreasonable” monopoly under the Sherman Antitrust Act. It ordered Standard to break up into 34 independent companies with different boards of directors”
I am writing on a HP computer because I like HP computer, but I can still choose: Dell, IBM, Packard Bell, Acer, Samsung etc.
The SO is only Microsoft Vista. Is this right?
EU vs USA? what a stupid idea. We europeans and americans are the same people. We love the same movies and we love the same things. I have never been in USA but I know that US is a great country full of great people.
So please stop with this shit EU vs USA.
So some portion of what I pay Microsoft may now go to the socialists in EU? Exactlyhow is that money going to be spent?
@34
http://books.google.com/books?.....oF-HjjOkoI
Check out the last paragraph.
They’re not “like an alligator”. They said so after all.
All they do is make these “nice little software packages”.
With Linux and Mac where they are today, I don’t think there’s a compelling reason to use MS Windows anymore. To me and a lot of younger people Windows gives you the same feeling as using an Amiga.
they even get to get the largest fine. First the largest OS, now the largest fine; they are on a roll, guys, on a roll!!
“Btw Chris is a moron indeed.”
http://digg.com/linux_unix/XBO.....rtag_motto
Yes, it’s not like MS will go to extreme lengths to make sure you never hear about alternatives after all. I know MS better than most people. Just reading through this blog you have no idea what anybody’s background is.
BTW, very few if any clean words are banned on Live. Linux is one of them.
Totally galling that the EU is able to fund a bloated, useless bureaucracy off the backs of U.S. companies.
The EU accounted for 247 million Internet connection in 2006, (before a whole bunch of countries from the East joined the EU). The current number is probably more than 300 million.
The US accounts for just about 200 million Internet connections.
Europe is therefore a MUCH bigger market than the USA, with much higher purchasing power. Microsoft would much sooner pull out of the USA than the EU or Asia.
So stop making daft comments about whether or not it is worth selling software to the EU. They don’t have a choice, unless they wish to lose their largest market.
I still find it funny how everyone classifies Microsoft as a monopoly just because of distribution. The whole reason we were afraid of monopolies in the first place was because they stifle competition buy either buying them or squashing them somehow. So maybe Microsoft has issues with Linux, have you seen how far Linux has come in the past few years?
The competition isn’t dead, they just aren’t as big. If Europe doesn’t like Microsoft, there are tons of alternatives. They could even be like China and write their own freaking OS for the government and schools if they have to.
If Microsoft was honestly killing all competition like an old-school monopoly, the US would probably dismantle the company. They almost did that a few years back, but it does seem like Microsoft has made pretty good strides since then. I guess it’s mostly perspective, but I can still startup a company without fear of the big blue giant stomping me.
The event is a political grandstand for the most part. The EU, like the UN, requires that it’s member all cooperate for this to ultimately work. So what are the odds of that?
They will just pass the cost. Their gross profit is 80%. They are a monopoly. So in the long run, it really sounds like a bigger deal than it really is, nothing really changes.
Every single one of you who says “Chris is a moron” was obviously born yesterday.
@Pandrogas: It’s not whether MS is successful or not at stifling the competition. It’s the fact that they are using their might to attempt to unfairly stifle competition.
I applaud the EU for standing firm where the US government “sold out”. We had a chance to do something about MS and failed.
If MS pulled out of Europe, it would be the death knell for MS. Linux (and Apple) would flood in .. and that would be the day that history would record as the day the computer revolution really began.
Thanks EU! If they pay, it’ll be passed on to us lowly consumers, so thanks for taking money right out of the pockets of your citizens.
Microsoft, should stop selling their product inside the EU district and see how quickly the EU changes their mind about imposing the fines.
@44: John, where’s the proof that they are competing unfairly? We always hear about this crap “Oh Microsoft this and that”, I want see links and evidence that they obliterated the OS, Browser, or Media market. Not their market share number, I want proof that they are in fact a monopoly.
I wonder what would happen if Microsoft decided to cancel every European copy of their OS for just three days. If they just invalidated every copy of Windows and sent out a message that it was due to the EU’s interference.
I wonder how quickly that fine would be reversed.
I’m surprised by the ignorance from most of you (probably US?) posters.
@47 Do you seriously think that would work?
One final question: Can you even point out Europe on a map?
@46: You can find the EC’s 2004 decision (and proof, if you wish) at http://ec.europa.eu/comm/compe.....792/en.pdf
Holy crap, Chris. They don’t let you use the word Microsoft either on Xbox Live! Your argument sucks. Please go back to sunny Canada.
People these days are just pathetic. It’s not like Microsoft was just started yesterday, they WORKED just as hard as anybody else to make it to the top. Now that they are at the top they can do whatever the hell they want in my opinion. Go use Linux or Mac if you don’t like what Microsoft offers you. Sheesh.