MS Face Massive Fines - EU regulators Warn

[GhostShip]

I see US goverment intervention on the horizon as things could get nasty in Europe for Microsoft

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/5120536.stm

The European Commission is ready to impose a fine of 2m euros ($2.5m; £1.4m) a day on Microsoft.
The Commission is expected to rule that Microsoft has failed to fully implement its 2004 antitrust decision.
Under the ruling, Microsoft had to supply rivals with information about its Windows operating system.

On Monday, Microsoft said it had begun to provide the information Brussels had demanded, but the Commission has signalled the company acted too late.
In December, Brussels informed the software giant that it had failed to comply with the original ruling it issued in March 2004.

As Microsoft has taken a further six months to begin handing over information, experts believe the Commission will take the view that the firm has been acting illegally since the warning.
Brussels is currently preparing a draft ruling that will be presented to national competition authorities on Monday, while an official ruling is expected on 12 July.

 

A showdown of the "big guns" seems to be imminent, whatever the result its the consumers who will end up footing the bill of any backlash, and I am sure there will be something along those lines if fines are imposed in the amounts that the commision had threatened ( 2M Euros per day ).

[..Ñøßߥ..]

Yeah, its a loose loose for consumers, since we effectively pay for such commisions and their legal costs, we pay once, then any fine MS get will filter down to consumers, so we pay again, and on and on it goes.........    

[KM]

M$ would get you to pay whatever they can beat out of you anyway, the amount they get fined won't effect consumers, M$ can't put the prices up as they have already fixed them at the highest rates the local market can handle in every country

[SamSeeSam]

M$ can't put the prices up as they have already fixed them at the highest rates the local market can handle in every country

You mean that Microsoft has different prices in different countires??? That is a rip off... a big one

[GhostShip]

Its the same for Muic downloads Sam, they charge what the local market will handle without forcing users to look elsewhere.

A 99 cents apple tune is 1.29 in the UK, you do the maths with the exchange rates, and guess what it all comes via the same websites 

Its a simple marketing ploy to lower prices in the US to kill competition and raise them higher in countries where no competition exists.

Big Buisiness is never consumer friendly  :roll: