Text 12071, 140 rader
Skriven 2006-07-11 17:35:32 av Gary Britt (1:379/45)
  Kommentar till text 12070 av /m (1:379/45)
Ärende: Re: Playing hardball with Microsoft 'gets results'
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From: "Gary Britt" <glb@gencog.com>

Its funny but Microsoft would have been BETTER off if Judge Jackson's original
orders and breakup orders had been carried out.  They would have helped save
Microsoft from themselves.

Gary

"/m" <mike@barkto.com> wrote in message
news:4g48b2pt0rtetpv5oqs33o5bc2htkdofg2@4ax.com...
>
> http://news.zdnet.co.uk/0,39020330,39278431,00.htm
>
> ===
> The US justice department has admitted it can learn a few things from
> Europe's antitrust case
>
>
> The European Commission is expected to fine Microsoft on Wednesday as
> part of a hard-line approach towards getting the software giant to
> comply with antitrust sanctions that appears to be bearing fruit.
>
> The extent of Microsoft's newfound co-operation in the face of a penalty
> that is likely to reach hundreds of millions of euros is impressing even
> Americans, until now highly critical of Brussels' approach.
>
> US Justice Department lawyer Renata Hesse conceded in May that the
> American approach - which has not relied on coercion - had failed to
> accomplish as much in five years, more than twice the time since Europe
> in 2004 ruled the firm was exploiting a near-monopoly.
>
> "They're obviously further along at this point than we are," Hesse told
> a US court in reference to the European method.
>
> For the European Union executive, the policy is quite clear.
>
> "If people are not... conforming (with) our regulations, our rules, then
> it needs to be corrected," EU Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes said
> late last week. She said she could not imagine that Microsoft would
> avoid a fine when the Commission met this week.
>
> The European Commission will reveal on Wednesday the size of its fine.
> It will be set at up to ?2m ($2.6m) a day, backdated to 15 December,
> 2005, and extending to some time before Wednesday. The fine's dimensions
> are expected to be endorsed in a closed meeting of the 25 EU countries
> on Monday.
>
> Brussels' tough new penalty is on top of ?497m in fines the Commission
> already imposed in its landmark antitrust decision against Microsoft in
> March 2004.
>
> After years of investigation, the Commission found that Microsoft used
> near-monopoly power from its Windows operating system to harm
> competitors making "work group servers," which run printing and sign-on
> services in offices.
>
> The Commission ordered Microsoft to give rivals the information needed
> so their work group servers could compete on a level playing field with
> Microsoft's own. Microsoft must help its rivals interconnect smoothly
> with Windows.
>
> Microsoft was supposed to have the information ready for competitors by
> June 2004. The company tried to have the sanctions suspended until it
> could complete a court challenge to the 2004 decision, but late that
> year a judge said no.
>
> In the Commission's view, Microsoft moved too slowly. Finally it
> threatened the software giant with daily fines in December 2005, and
> within months Microsoft agreed on a plan.
>
> A Microsoft spokesman rejected the idea that the company had dragged its
> feet.
>
> "Microsoft has done everything that the Commission has ever asked of
> it," he said.
>
> With the Brussels fine hanging over its head, Microsoft and the
> Commission's "monitoring trustee" agreed in April on a schedule for the
> documentation needed for work group servers. Microsoft said it had not
> understood until then what the Commission wanted.
>
> Suddenly, things were moving faster than in the US.
>
> "The monitoring trustee and Microsoft have, for example, agreed on a
> specification for the documentation in Europe, and our technical folks
> and Microsoft are just now doing that," the Justice Department's Hesse
> told a US judge in May.
>
> A US judge found in 2000 that Microsoft had broken the law and imposed
> sanctions, including a break-up of the company. An appeals court threw
> out that remedy but left the most serious legal violations intact.
>
> Once President Bush took over, his Justice Department reached a
> settlement with Microsoft that former Clinton Justice Department
> officials believed would be ineffective.
>
> By May of this year the American process was so troubled that Microsoft
> and the court started over again in a so-called "reset," taking a cue
> from what US District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly called "the European
> Commission's direction".
>
> Microsoft says it never delayed carrying out Commission sanctions and
> first offered a proposed draft for interconnection software and
> documentation in 2004.
>
> But the Commission's monitoring trustee found Microsoft's approach
> "fundamentally flawed".
>
> The Microsoft project to comply with the Brussels sanctions has a
> colourful, place-based name typical of those used by the software giant:
> Project Circle Line, named after the London underground train line.
>
> The company says it involves the intense efforts of 300 people and the
> last stage, known as Paddington - one of the stops on the London Circle
> Line - will be finished on 18 July.
>
> If Microsoft's work meets Commission standards there may be no more
> fines.
> ===
>
>
>
>
>
> "A Microsoft spokesman rejected the idea that the company had dragged
> its feet.   'Microsoft has done everything that the Commission has ever
> asked of it,' he said."
>
>
>
>
> It appears Microsoft still has some learning to do regarding what
> compliance means and what stonewalling means....
>
>
>
> /m

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