If you can’t beat them, Sue their Asses

The World no matter how much bashing the open source community does and how much effort they put in emphasizing their "free" software, they can't stop diamond prized products of Microsoft selling like hotcakes.

Why not? How pathetic you could be using "open source" as your desktop operating system while you have Windows, and with the upcoming Vista version it's like comparing a jeepney with a Mercedes Benz, unless you use your computers similar to abacus, you would not understand the intricacies of feature packed Microsoft technologies.

Anyways, the €280.5m fined by the European Commission against Microsoft for the crime of being "creative and so good" is freaking insane. These people lying in the bed of taxes generated from Microsoft sales feel they haven't earned that much and use their power to milk the company further more.

I would not care much about what they are asking from Microsoft if they were to impose exposing proprietary secrets on every scientist, inventor, and software company out there. The truth is, they would not milk much dough from small time companies and instead focus their efforts on a company from which they would earn a ton loads of cash.

In an excerpt from news.

"I regret that, more than two years after the decision, and despite an order from the president of the Court of First Instance that the Microsoft appeal to the court does not suspend Microsoft's obligation to comply, Microsoft has still not put an end to its illegal conduct," Kroes said in a statement issued before the press conference.

"We have great respect for the Commission and this process, but we do not believe any fine, let alone a fine of this magnitude, is appropriate given the lack of clarity in the Commission's original decision and our good-faith efforts over the past two years," Brad Smith, Microsoft general counsel, said during Microsoft's separate press conference Wednesday.

In April, the Commission's monitoring trustee, Neil Barrett, met with Microsoft. They developed a template for the software maker to enter batches of protocols and created a schedule of deadlines. The templates call for each protocol to start the same way with a glossary, section on reference works, description of the protocol and how it relates to other protocols, Smith said.

Of the seven milestone dates established, six batches of protocols were to be delivered by June 30 and the seventh on the interim date of July 18, with a hard deadline of July 24.

Under this system, Microsoft received feedback from the trustee's team on each batch of protocols submitted, as to whether it was sufficient or needed more changes, said Tom Brookes, a Microsoft spokesman.

Barrett initially found the batches of protocols below par. But since June 20--which is end date for the new fine--Barrett that found Microsoft has been doing an "extremely good job and 50 percent of the documents are there," Kroes said. The six batches of protocols already due have all been turned in.

Barrett's team has approved the final stage of one protocol, Smith noted, and an additional 16 revised drafts have been accepted by his team.

"We are encouraged by the Commission's comment that our recent work is 'extremely good,'" Smith said. "In our view, the issue has never been about compliance but clarity. Having gotten clarity from the Commission in April, we have met every deadline since then. And our top priority is to meet the final deadline in two weeks."

European Commission is the monopolistic beast that decides who to go after and judge them depending on how much their gains shall be.

Microsoft is not like Google who makes money out of people's content without their knowledge unless you are a tech savvy who can block their Googlebot -- just a thought...

[tags]Microsoft, European Commission[/tags]

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