[CS-FSLUG] M$ fined 497 million dollars

[Aaron Patrick Lehmann]

On Sun, Mar 28, 2004 at 09:32:49PM -0800, David Aikema wrote:
> On March 28, 2004 08:53 pm, Aaron Patrick Lehmann wrote:
> > This seems a bit ridiculous.  I'm no fan of Microsoft, but fining them for
> > prebundling software that most windows users are going to download anyway
> > seems backward.  I did like the part about forcing them to open up the
> > codecs, though.
> 
> Well, the reason that the users would download the software anyways would be 
> that everyone else already has it (which would also be a good reason for 
> content producers to use it)... basically it's the use of a monopoly in one 
> area to force out competitors in a different area.
> 

Possibly.  I don't use my computer for video and the like, so I'm no expert.
However, a friend of mine (a Gentoo user, if it matters), tells me that
Microsoft's Media Player is a good product, while Real Media's is trash.  Also,
if they are being forced to open their codecs, then forcing them to offer a
different distrobution without the media player at added cost to the consumer
looks overboard to me, as opening of the codecs will pave the way for users to
use any player they want.  I realize that removing the prebundled player might
be a slight inconvinience for those who would use a different one, but that's
not the majority of windows users.  After all, one doesn't use windows because
one wants to be able to micromanage every detail of the system.

Aaron Lehmann
-- 
Let me see you stripped...  Let me hear you make decisions, without your
telivision.  --Ramstein