Microsoft&#39;s setback in Europe may not be boon to consumers
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BERLIN While competitors hailed a European judge&#39;s decision to force Microsoft to sell a stripped-down version of its Windows computer operating software without a media player, analysts said European consumers may be less than pleased.
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Although Microsoft Corp. may not have the first service pack for Windows Vista ready at the end of this year as some expected, financial analysts say that a delay should not have a negative effect on enterprise adoption of the OS.
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(InfoWorld) - European Commissioner for competition Neelie Kroes Tuesday denied she is conducting a personal vendetta against Microsoft. Her comments came in response to what she called âa coordinated campaignâ by Microsoft against Europeâs top antitrust regulator. âFar from pursuing a vendetta against Microsoft, the Commissionâs actions are guided by the desire to create the most innovation-friendly business climate in Europe to the ultimate benefit of European consumers,â Kroes wrote in a letter in Tuesdayâs Financial Times. Earlier this month Microsoft warned that ongoing antitrust problems in Europe mayÂ delay the European launch of Windows Vista, the new version of the companyâs flagship operating system. It accused the Commission of not giving it sufficiently clear guidance on whether Vista would pass muster under European antitrust law. It also presented research it had commissioned that showed that hundreds of thousands ofÂ jobs in the European IT industry were at stakeÂ if Vistaâs launch in the region was delayed. âThere appears to be a co-ordinated campaign to portray the Commission in a negative light,â Kroes wrote. âFor example, I have seen it suggested that the Commission may seek toÂ prevent Microsoft from improving the securityÂ of its operating system. This is categorically not the case,â she wrote. The Commission has been giving feedback to Microsoft since the spring about how to avoid similar antitrust problems with Vista that it experienced with its predecessor, Windows XP. The Commission warned Microsoft that its plan to equip Vista with its own security software may amount to bundling and it urged the software company not to shut out rivals in the security software market. In 2004 the Commission found Microsoft guilty of shutting out rivals in the media player software market by bundling its Media Player with Windows. The company was also guilty of abusing its position in the workgroup server OS market. Microsoft was fined almost â¬500 million ($633 million) and was required to release a version of Windows without Media Player. In addition, Microsoft needed to make its server products better interoperate with competitors' offerings. Earlier this year it wasÂ fined an additional â¬280.5 millionÂ for failing to reveal details about the workings of Windows, as it was ordered to in the 2004 ruling. Microsoft has now submitted the information, which the Commission believes is necessary for restoring competition in the market for server operating systems. The Commission will decide in the coming months whether the information is sufficient. Meanwhile, the European Court of First Instance in Luxembourg is considering an appeal of the 2004 antitrust ruling lodged by Microsoft. The Court follows no strict timeframe. Most observers expect a ruling by next summer.ADVERTISEMENTMAKE SOA REAL WITH IBM WEBSPHERE PODCASTStreamline processes and maximize efficiency within a proven service oriented architecture. Take back control of your business processes with IBM WebSphere.
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p2pnet.net News:- Europeans will be able to buy a leaned-down version of Microsoft Windows, stripped of its music and video player, and the company will have to license out secret information to its competitors.
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The announced six-wait wait for Windows Vista's first Service pack isn't likely to harm Microsoft's relationships with its business customers, and may in fact be most upside.
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(InfoWorld) - Microsoft tried to dazzle the antitrust regulators in Brussels on Thursday with new research that illustrates how immense the effect of Windows Vista will be next year on Europe's IT industry and the broader economy. Microsoft warnedÂ earlier this week that the launch of Vista might be delayed in Europe because of the regulators' concerns about its impact on competition. On Thursday it used research conducted by IDC -- and sponsored by Microsoft -- to illustrate how much Vista is set to benefit Europe in terms of revenues and jobs next year. Within a year of going on sale, IDC said, Windows Vista will be installed on more than 30 million computers in the six E.U. countries included in the study: Germany, France, the U.K., Spain, Poland and Denmark. More than 100 million computers worldwide will run Vista within a year of its launch. The predictions come from a research paper titled "The economic impact of Microsoft Windows Vista." Vista-related employment will account for more than 20 percent of all IT jobs within a year of its arrival, IDC predicted. That translates into around one million IT professionals in the six countries, including 100,000 new jobs by the end of 2007, assuming that Vista is launched on time at the beginning of next year. The European Commission, Europe's top antitrust regulator, is concerned that new features planned for Vista, like its improved security software, willÂ fall foul of the same antitrust rulesÂ the company was found guilty of breaching two and a half years ago with its bundling of Windows Media Player. Jean-Philippe Courtois, president of Microsoft International, said the impact of Vista will be much greater than the direct benefits to Microsoft. "The economic opportunity Windows Vista creates for small and large companies across the region is clearly much more significant," he said at a press conference to unveil the study. But some commentators saw the unveiling of the IDC research as a way of pressuring the Commission to back off. Last week, four members of the European Parliament wrote to competition commissioner Neelie Kroes warning her not to scupper the launch of Vista. "It looks like operation shock and awe," said one person following Microsoft's antitrust travails in Europe, who asked not to be named. Microsoft is "losing the legal argument, so it's turning to political means to maintain its abusive monopoly," said the person, who is close to some of Microsoft's nearest competitors. For every euro ($1.27) Microsoft generates in its own revenues from Vista, other firms in the six countries that are involved in distributing the OS, building applications for it or servicing computers using Vista will generate â¬14 (17.76) in sales, IDC said. These companies should sell "over â¬32 billion ($40.6 billion) in products and services revolving around Windows Vista," IDC said. "Rapid and widespread adoption of Windows Vista means that its launch ... will have a pronounced positive impact on local economies throughout Europe," IDC said. The six countries in the study account for over 65 percent of all IT spending in the European Union, Croatia, Norway, and Switzerland. (IDC is owned by International Data Group, the parent company of IDG News Service.)
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Next week&#39;s European  antitrust ruling against Microsoft Corp  is a legacy of  its past behavior, but competitors say the company&#39;s current  strategy is a sign of history repeating itself.
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While Microsoft (MSFT ) has extinguished most of its legal flare-ups in the US, its fires in Europe continue to rage. The European Commission&#39;s antitrust unit is still tussling with the software giant over
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BRUSSELS, Sep 21 (IPS) - Microsoft will still wield enormous power in the  global computer industry despite this week's ruling by a  European court that the Seattle-based corporation has abused its  monopoly.
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Microsoft isn't quite begging, but the company is hoping a European court will cut it some major slack in its fight against an antitrust ruling, citing concerns that PC users will get the short end of the stick. -washingtonpost.com
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Surprise, surprise. Microsoft apparently uses its operating system software monopoly to dominate new markets. That, at least, is what European courts have just determined.
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LUXEMBOURG, Oct. 1 -- A European judge today cast a skeptical eye on whether Microsoft Corp. should be forced to create two versions of its Windows operating system, one with its program for playing digital music and videos and one without.
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Antitrust-ageddon !!!!! Microsoft is likely to face a torrid time from European regulators before it can even think of closing its proposed takeover of Yahoo!.â¦
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Microsoft must comply with behavioral remedies imposed by the European Commission, but observers are skeptical of the difference they will make.
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People actually redeeming vouchers Europeans who bought a new PC in time for Christmas and were persuaded that they would get a Vista upgrade soon after the rollout by redeeming a voucher, are learning that demand for the upgrades far outstrips "supply".â¦
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InfoWorld - Although Microsoft may not have the first service pack for Windows Vista ready at the end of this year as some expected, financial analysts say that a delay should not have a negative effect on enterprise adoption of the OS.
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Good news has been in short supply for Europe&#39;s traditional industrial economies like Germany and France. Growth remains weak, unemployment high, labor markets are still rigid and the euro is soaring, pricing their exports out of the market.