EU launches new Microsoft probes
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Kevin McFarlane wrote:
Bloody ridiculous.
No, it's not. First and foremost is the EU comission only reacting to complaints by Microsoft competitors. And I also think that Opera is right, the Internet Explorer shouldn't be bundled with Windows. 90% of the IE users don't use it by choice but because it came preinstalled with Windows.
Andre Buenger wrote:
No, it's not.
Yes it is.
Andre Buenger wrote:
First and foremost is the EU comission only reacting to complaints by Microsoft competitors.
The EU commission should try working for a living instead of practising extortion rackets.
Andre Buenger wrote:
I also think that Opera is right, the Internet Explorer shouldn't be bundled with Windows.
It's MS's OS they should be allowed to offer it in any way they want.
Andre Buenger wrote:
90% of the IE users don't use it by choice but because it came preinstalled with Windows.
So what? As a matter of fact, though, the same thing can be said about Windows Media Player. If we go along with this one might think that a reasonable solution would be to allow OEMs to bundle multiple competing media players - something that Microsoft proposed - yet the EU commission still rejected it. They're just a bunch of power-lusters. (FWIW, I'm writing this in Firefox which I consider to be a superior browser to IE.)
Kevin
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Yup - produce a product that people don't want to use and then complain about them using somebody else's choice. I'm waiting for the EU to sue God because he made the Earth proprietary. I assume they'll cite the case where people want to download their own oxygen or use a different type of trees.
Deja View - the feeling that you've seen this post before.
It seems to me that some people are forgetting fast, I thought most of us knows the browser history of the last 10 years. Once there was a browser war between Netscape and Microsoft which Microsoft finally won because they bundled IE with Windows. And then? Nothing for 5 years, until Firefox gained more and more marketshare. Without Firefox we would still be using IE5.5 nowadays.
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Yup - produce a product that people don't want to use and then complain about them using somebody else's choice. I'm waiting for the EU to sue God because he made the Earth proprietary. I assume they'll cite the case where people want to download their own oxygen or use a different type of trees.
Deja View - the feeling that you've seen this post before.
Pete O'Hanlon wrote:
I'm waiting for the EU to sue God because he made the Earth proprietary.
Plus he didnt give its users a choice lol
"There are three sides to every story. Yours, mine and the truth" ~ unknown
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Andre Buenger wrote:
The internet is not the only way distribute software. Most people buy a PC out of the box, so the vendor can put a DVD with a kind of software in the box
And for the ones who make white boxes?
Andre Buenger wrote:
Also almost every PC magazine nowadays comes with a DVD every month with the latest and greatest software
So now we are back to paying for something that is already coming free? Has nobody heard of UNINSTALL????? If you dont like it, dont use it. What is so hard about that? Also, why shouldnt Microsoft be able to distribute their free software bundled with software you buy? They arnt forcing you to use it, they are providing it as a convienience.
"There are three sides to every story. Yours, mine and the truth" ~ unknown
Thunderbox666 wrote:
So now we are back to paying for something that is already coming free?
Actually Andre could just have said that OEMs can bundle alternative browsers, so the end users still don't pay anything.
Kevin
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Andre Buenger wrote:
The internet is not the only way distribute software. Most people buy a PC out of the box, so the vendor can put a DVD with a kind of software in the box
And for the ones who make white boxes?
Andre Buenger wrote:
Also almost every PC magazine nowadays comes with a DVD every month with the latest and greatest software
So now we are back to paying for something that is already coming free? Has nobody heard of UNINSTALL????? If you dont like it, dont use it. What is so hard about that? Also, why shouldnt Microsoft be able to distribute their free software bundled with software you buy? They arnt forcing you to use it, they are providing it as a convienience.
"There are three sides to every story. Yours, mine and the truth" ~ unknown
Thunderbox666 wrote:
Has nobody heard of UNINSTALL????? If you dont like it, dont use it. What is so hard about that?
IE can't be uninstalled. Yeah, you can choose to remove the icon from the desktop.
Thunderbox666 wrote:
Also, why shouldnt Microsoft be able to distribute their free software bundled with software you buy? They arnt forcing you to use it, they are providing it as a convienience.
IE isn't free. You pay the IE taxes with every copy of Windows.
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Thunderbox666 wrote:
So now we are back to paying for something that is already coming free?
Actually Andre could just have said that OEMs can bundle alternative browsers, so the end users still don't pay anything.
Kevin
Read my entire post. I was saying that its not free for people who build their own machines. They either have to download it (and without a preinstalled browser, they would have to use FTP or similar) or BUY the cd with it on it. I dont see why anyone would complain about free software (as crap as it is!!). Without it, setting up a computer would be a lot more difficult.
"There are three sides to every story. Yours, mine and the truth" ~ unknown
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It seems to me that some people are forgetting fast, I thought most of us knows the browser history of the last 10 years. Once there was a browser war between Netscape and Microsoft which Microsoft finally won because they bundled IE with Windows. And then? Nothing for 5 years, until Firefox gained more and more marketshare. Without Firefox we would still be using IE5.5 nowadays.
Andre Buenger wrote:
which Microsoft finally won because they bundled IE with Windows
But it also had to get to a "good enough" stage compared to Netscape. Prior to IE 4 this was not the case. Earlier versions were unusable. IE4 was IMO slightly superior to Netscape 4. IE 5 and 6 were significantly superior to Netcsape 4.x. I've never used later versions of Netscape (unless you count Firefox). Today Firefox 2 is significantly superior to IE7.
Kevin
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Christian Graus wrote:
But, they are all free NOT to. If they didn't get IE with the box, how would they download Firefox ?
The internet is not the only way distribute software. Most people buy a PC out of the box, so the vendor can put a DVD with a kind of software in the box. Also almost every PC magazine nowadays comes with a DVD every month with the latest and greatest software.
Andre Buenger wrote:
so the vendor can put a DVD with a kind of software in the box.
Come on now. If Dell and friends had to bundle a browser, instead of MS doing the bundling, they'd choose the browser most people are already familiar with...IE. :doh: (I say that as an enthusiastic FF user.)
Tech, life, family, faith: Give me a visit. I'm currently blogging about: What this world needs... (Video) The apostle Paul, modernly speaking: Epistles of Paul Judah Himango
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Thunderbox666 wrote:
So now we are back to paying for something that is already coming free?
Actually Andre could just have said that OEMs can bundle alternative browsers, so the end users still don't pay anything.
Kevin
Kevin McFarlane wrote:
OEMs can bundle alternative browsers, so the end users still don't pay anything.
Exactly that. Every preconfigured PC I got in my life came with a bunch of unnecessary CDs/DVDs and unwanted software, so a few apps extra doesn't cost anything.
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Thunderbox666 wrote:
Has nobody heard of UNINSTALL????? If you dont like it, dont use it. What is so hard about that?
IE can't be uninstalled. Yeah, you can choose to remove the icon from the desktop.
Thunderbox666 wrote:
Also, why shouldnt Microsoft be able to distribute their free software bundled with software you buy? They arnt forcing you to use it, they are providing it as a convienience.
IE isn't free. You pay the IE taxes with every copy of Windows.
Andre Buenger wrote:
IE taxes
What IE taxes? You pay for an OS (with bundled software). The individual components aren't costed out. Do you honestly think that Microsoft would reduce the cost of the OS if they were forced to unbundle. Frankly, this MS bashing really p!sses me off. The industry would be in a lot poorer state if Microsoft hadn't caused the competition to raise their game. Competition is healthy and competition leads to innovation.
Deja View - the feeling that you've seen this post before.
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It would probably be funnier if MS refused to sell anything in the EU. Imagine the chaos that would follow as everyone clammored to find replacements for all the tools they are used to using. And yes, I too downloaded Firefox using good old IE.
Pualee wrote:
It would probably be funnier if MS refused to sell anything in the EU
Kind of like Atlas Shrugged.
Kevin
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Andre Buenger wrote:
which Microsoft finally won because they bundled IE with Windows
But it also had to get to a "good enough" stage compared to Netscape. Prior to IE 4 this was not the case. Earlier versions were unusable. IE4 was IMO slightly superior to Netscape 4. IE 5 and 6 were significantly superior to Netcsape 4.x. I've never used later versions of Netscape (unless you count Firefox). Today Firefox 2 is significantly superior to IE7.
Kevin
[Message Deleted]
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Kevin McFarlane wrote:
OEMs can bundle alternative browsers, so the end users still don't pay anything.
Exactly that. Every preconfigured PC I got in my life came with a bunch of unnecessary CDs/DVDs and unwanted software, so a few apps extra doesn't cost anything.
Wait a second.... you say that Ms's *Free* browser costs get passed onto you in other ways... Who do you think pays for the OEM's *Free* software that is bundled with it?? Ignor the propagander and give me the answer you work out by logic!
"There are three sides to every story. Yours, mine and the truth" ~ unknown
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Read my entire post. I was saying that its not free for people who build their own machines. They either have to download it (and without a preinstalled browser, they would have to use FTP or similar) or BUY the cd with it on it. I dont see why anyone would complain about free software (as crap as it is!!). Without it, setting up a computer would be a lot more difficult.
"There are three sides to every story. Yours, mine and the truth" ~ unknown
Actually, I disagree with Andre's viewpoint but was just trying to help him out. :)
Kevin
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It seems to me that some people are forgetting fast, I thought most of us knows the browser history of the last 10 years. Once there was a browser war between Netscape and Microsoft which Microsoft finally won because they bundled IE with Windows. And then? Nothing for 5 years, until Firefox gained more and more marketshare. Without Firefox we would still be using IE5.5 nowadays.
So what? In the last seven years, people would have ridiculed any consumer OS that didn't come with a browser preinstalled. It would be the ugly fat kid that wants to be a model. Microsoft recognized early enough that a browser needs to be there out of the box, and that there's no money to be made with the browser itself. It's there? YES PLEASE! As a desktop developer, nothing better can happen to me than an ActiveX Control I can reuse, that I can expect to be there, and that renders my HTML the same way it rendered during testing. I know that this is ignorant to some of the bigger pictures, but heck - I didn't order them painted.
We are a big screwed up dysfunctional psychotic happy family - some more screwed up, others more happy, but everybody's psychotic joint venture definition of CP
blog: TDD - the Aha! | Linkify!| FoldWithUs! | sighist -
Andre Buenger wrote:
IE taxes
What IE taxes? You pay for an OS (with bundled software). The individual components aren't costed out. Do you honestly think that Microsoft would reduce the cost of the OS if they were forced to unbundle. Frankly, this MS bashing really p!sses me off. The industry would be in a lot poorer state if Microsoft hadn't caused the competition to raise their game. Competition is healthy and competition leads to innovation.
Deja View - the feeling that you've seen this post before.
Pete O'Hanlon wrote:
Do you honestly think that Microsoft would reduce the cost of the OS if they were forced to unbundle.
No, they would have to charge more to make up for all the whiners that are sueing them everyday.
Pete O'Hanlon wrote:
Frankly, this MS bashing really p!sses me off.
I agree there. I am not a fan of Microsoft, but I dont think blaming them for things that most of us still use daily is a fair thing.
Pete O'Hanlon wrote:
if Microsoft hadn't caused the competition to raise their game
This one worked both ways. "They have a better product, what can we do to improve?" then the other company does exactly the same thing.. it is a never ending cycle.
"There are three sides to every story. Yours, mine and the truth" ~ unknown
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Wait a second.... you say that Ms's *Free* browser costs get passed onto you in other ways... Who do you think pays for the OEM's *Free* software that is bundled with it?? Ignor the propagander and give me the answer you work out by logic!
"There are three sides to every story. Yours, mine and the truth" ~ unknown
a) Firefox is developed by the Mozilla Foundation and distributed for free. b) Internet Explorer is bundled with Windows and you pay the cost with your Windows license.
Thunderbox666 wrote:
Who do you think pays for the OEM's *Free* software that is bundled with it??
If the OEM puts Firefox on DVD that comes with your PC you only pay for the DVD, not Firefox. Probably $0.03, big deal.
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[Message Deleted]
But the rise of Firefox shows how fragile this monopoly was. It's the difference between a market (de facto) monopoly and a state (de jure) monopoly.
Kevin
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Why don't they just kick MS out and be done with it ? They are obviously determined to attack them on the slightest whim of thier competitors.
Christian Graus - Microsoft MVP - C++ "also I don't think "TranslateOneToTwoBillion OneHundredAndFortySevenMillion FourHundredAndEightyThreeThousand SixHundredAndFortySeven()" is a very good choice for a function name" - SpacixOne ( offering help to someone who really needed it ) ( spaces added for the benefit of people running at < 1280x1024 )
You are missing the point - the EU commissioners are a complete and utter waste of time. Most are an unelected bunch of self-serving, self-aggrandizing, money grabbing, bottom feeding, scum suckers. OK - rant over, I feel better for that.
Deja View - the feeling that you've seen this post before.
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Bloody ridiculous. EU launches new Microsoft probes[^]
Kevin
Looks at bit spurious and woolly to me...[^] Ok, so IE (up to and including 7) has been a bit sucky on the standards compliance; but a standard is precisely that - a standard. You don't have to follow them, otherwise Toyota would have been forced to sign up to ISO9000. However, Microsoft are promising to address this in IE8. If Opera want greater market penetration they should be signing deals with Dell, Acer, Lenovo and the other big manufacturers. Dell, for instance, seem only too happy to pre-install loads of crap which I then have to waste valuable time removing (in spite of specifically asking them not to install anything except the base O/S). But it just seems easier to go whinging to the EU. Quite why is there all this fuss about free software? What I care about is that I can install Windows, and I'm pretty much good to go - I can browse the Interweb, listen to music yadda, yadda, yadda. If I'm not happy with the pre-installed applications I can install any other I chose, either paid for or free. Surely that's consumer choice? The EU - a ghastly unelected entity. But I won't go there, lest we all end up with suds in our eyes :)