MICROSOFT

So the European Commission has decided to fine Microsoft EUR497 million and ordered them to unbundle their software packages, in particular they want Windows Media Player taken out of the Windows Office package.

The argument for this is that it will encourage and allow consumers to shop around for thier various bits and pieces of software, thus increasing competiton, and allow other systems such as Sun and RealNetworks to compete in their various niches.

What a load of bollocks.

First of all, why should Microsoft be punished for being the only software provider able to cover the entire software market with 1 product? If Sun want to compete, they should put a media player into their package, not have courts force Microsoft to take theirs out.

When Anti-Brake Lock Systems (ABS) were first launched by whichever company developed them as a feature on their cars, the other car companies didn't go to the courts to have it taken off their vehicles because thir own products were now inferior, they went to their engineers to get them to develop a similar system for their own cars.

Secondly - why the hell woud I want to shop around for various systems to do various different things? Especially when those systems probably won't talk to each other and every time you install one it fucks up all the others and takes days to get everything up and running again. I want to go to a shop, buy 1 package, have everything work, and never have to think about it again.

Most of us can't even master all the features on our mobile phones let alone all the intricacies of the software our pc's. I'm sure there are a few geeks out there who are happy about this but for the bulk of us this is a nightmare.

The real reason behind this simply has to be that the European Commisision are trying to prove how powerful they are by bullying Microsoft. Unfortunately for them Microsoft has a cash pile of $50 billion so the fine will be paid from petty cash, and they are appealing which will take years, by which time the systems will all be redundant anyway and the market will have moved on.

If I were Microsoft I'd just pull my products and support from the European market and wait for the howls of protest from the public to force the European Commission to backtrack.