EU Markets: Pullin' a Putin

From the desk of George Adair on Wed, 2006-01-04 13:55

EU Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes continues her fetish of wanting to peek into other people's windows. It is refreshing to watch the officialdom of the EU unhinge themselves when dealing with a private sector company they cannot bluff, bully, and/or cajole into toeing the line.

Given that Neelie seems destined to be consumed by her predilection for Windows, some free advice to Microsoft in handling the EU's war on success:

  • Amortize all EU fines over the price of all products sold to businesses in Europe. Businesses will in turn pass these new costs along until they reach you the consumer in some form or fashion.
  • Amortize all EU fines over the price of all products sold to consumers in Europe. Cut out the middleman and go straight to the person who will be paying for any fines.
  • Amortize all EU fines over the price of all service provided to businesses using MSFT products in Europe. Businesses will in turn pass these new costs along until they reach you the consumer in some form or fashion.
  • Amortize all EU fines over the price of all service provided to consumers using MSFT products in Europe. Cut out the middleman and go straight to the person who will be paying for any fines.

Since the EU loves labeling laws, Microsoft should make sure each product package has a bright red Euro symbol and wording to the effect of "This Microsoft Product Now 10% More Costly - Courtesy of the EU Regulatory Apparatus!" Maybe even include a smiley face.

As this post was going to print a final choice came into play:

  • The Gazprom Option - Pull the plug on Europe. Ship no more Microsoft products and give commercial customers 90 days on service agreements. Walk away. Watch the teeth gnash and the tears flow.

Irrational, impertinent, rash, short-sighted? Of course, but I am just a mere blogger. What is Neelie's problem?

I write software for my

Submitted by John (not verified) on Fri, 2006-01-06 10:22.

I write software for my clients using Microsoft Access and SQL Server and I have earned more than a million dollars so far doing something I love to do, and I thank Bill Gates and Microsoft for making it all possible.

John

MS-fines

Submitted by VHfc on Wed, 2006-01-04 20:43.

As far as I remember, the fuzz was about the incorporation of a media player into the MSW-OS. It should hinder fair competition from other media player developers. Now thats funny because the only other media player that works (and it works *better* than the phone-home WMP) is Nullsoft with its Winamp, and that's *free*.

Earlier this week I installed Linux, just as a test. I got programs aborting, crashes, weird things happening to my PC. And I couldn't run Photoshop. Now I don't have time to run OS's, I want to run applications. I don't care about MS making $$$ but their software works and I spend much more $$$ on Photoshop anyways.

Microsoft doesn't hinder small niche players in the software market, it *enables* them. And whoever thinks that William Gates is a fat capitalist swine should read "The Unmaking of IBM". These guys started from *nothing*, and that's one thing the very well-paid EU commissioners can't be accused of.