What motivation have Microsoft got to pay this?
The right to continue to do business in the EU? That's what's at stake.
Microsoft fined $731m by European Commission over web browser choice
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Re: Microsoft fined $731m by European Commission over web browser choice
#12That's about $50 per user believed to have been affected by the error.
It's a high fine, but on the other hand, EU did not ask for much. I am sure MS will spend some more energy on implementing court orders in future.
Re: Microsoft fined $731m by European Commission over web browser choice
#13What motivation have Microsoft got to pay this?
The right to continue to do business in the EU? That's what's at stake.
I don't think they can just cut off every Microsoft consultancy, every Windows user and throw them out of the EU.
If they did, I'd be heading to Brussels with a pitchfork along with about 100 other people at my company.
Re: Microsoft fined $731m by European Commission over web browser choice
#14It's completely crazy. We've accepted browsers are part of the OS for a long time, what's next fining Apple for not promoting Mozilla or Chrome on iOS?
> It's completely crazy. There's nothing crazy about it. > We've accepted browsers are part of the OS for a long time We've accepted that browsers are necessary, the EU seems to have not accepted an OS natural monopoly can be leveraged into a browser monopoly. Sounds perfectly sane, and a good thing. > what's next fining Apple for not promoting Mozilla or Chrome on iOS? Apple does not have a monopoly marketshare, whi…
they did on iOS (for a while). Safari is bundled with iOS
Re: Microsoft fined $731m by European Commission over web browser choice
#15I wonder what they do with this money actually. Same as is done with tax money?
Yep, I it does.
Re: Microsoft fined $731m by European Commission over web browser choice
#16That's about $50 per user believed to have been affected by the error.
I understand the premise of the fine, but how is this supposed to help the consumers and businesses who now have to foot the $50 bill per seat?
Re: Microsoft fined $731m by European Commission over web browser choice
#17I think more companies should be fined like this, as a percentage of their anual revenue. Except that I would further increase the percentage - up to 50% or even 100%. It's very simple: citizens go to jail, companies can't; so we have to make them pay, a lot. When fines are a fixed amount, the corporations have to simply earn more by committing the crime than they would have to pay if caught; banks are very adept at…
So you would send people to jail for not giving dumb users a browser choice that is only going to confuse them anyway?
Re: Microsoft fined $731m by European Commission over web browser choice
#18It's completely crazy. We've accepted browsers are part of the OS for a long time, what's next fining Apple for not promoting Mozilla or Chrome on iOS?
This fine is the outcome of repeated failures on MS’s part to properly implement court-ordered reparations, rather than a direct fine required by the original judgement.
Yes but the original judgement was wrong too - politically motivated you might say
Re: Microsoft fined $731m by European Commission over web browser choice
#19Earlier quoted context omitted.
The right to continue to do business in the EU? That's what's at stake.
I don't think they can just cut off every Microsoft consultancy, every Windows user and throw them out of the EU. If they did, I'd be heading to Brussels with a pitchfork along with about 100 other people at my company.
I don't think this has anything to do with companies that offer services around Microsoft products - this will be about the Microsoft subsidiaries and assets located within the EU - there will probably be at least one Microsoft legal entity within each country where they have a direct presence, not to mention significant assets like large data centers.
Re: Microsoft fined $731m by European Commission over web browser choice
#20That's about $50 per user believed to have been affected by the error.
It's meant to punish Microsoft for failing to comply with the ruling, rather than compensate other browser-makers for the users potentially lost.