Friday, January 16, 2009

Like we said....

Asked to choose the most pressing issues of the day, one may come up with: world economic turmoil, Gaza, Gazprom, ending true poverty/hunger, Irak, Afghanistan, Zimbabwe, or even pirates.

Obviously you are not in Brussels. Truly serious issues of the day require truly serious action by truly serious individuals:

The European Union charged MicrosoftCorp. with new antitrust violations, reanimating a pursuit of the software giant that has already led to more than $2 billion in fines and has defined Europe's approach to policing big business.

In the charges, delivered to Microsoft Thursday, the EU accuses Microsoft of "tying" its Web browser, Internet Explorer, to its Windows operating system in a move that allegedly stifles competition from other makers of browsers.

The action, which revives issues at the heart of a U.S. antitrust case a decade ago, comes more than a year after Microsoft effectively threw in the towel on its long-lasting entanglement with EU regulators. The company agreed not to appeal a critical court ruling that it had lost and pledging better cooperation.

But the EU never signaled that it was finished. Indeed, just months after Microsoft's capitulation, the EU started two new investigations, one of which was focused on Internet Explorer. The lodging of the new charges indicates that the EU isn't satisfied with Microsoft's efforts to change its behavior.
Perhaps advice from three years ago could help again today:

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.
The more things change....

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