[CS-FSLUG] M$ fined 497 million dollars

[john-thomas richards]

On Mon, Mar 29, 2004 at 01:50:14AM -0500, Aaron Patrick Lehmann wrote:
[snip]
> > 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.

it is more than just a possibility; it *is* the reason they fined
microsoft.

i agree that real media player is junk, but apple's quicktime is an
excellent player.  microsoft seeks to 'inhibit' the use of competing
players because competing players minimize the importance of the
underlying operating system.  (this is not to bash microsoft; it is a
statement of fact as found by american and european courts.)  this is
the crux of microsoft's need to crush netscape.  by writing applications
to the browser, the underlying operating system is nigh unto irrelevant,
provided netscape (and now mozilla!) would run on it.  microsoft did not
care about netscape until netscape started touting this is a possibility
(and a development direction).
-- 
john-thomas
------
I have studied it often, but I never could discover the plot.
Mark Twain, author and humorist, on dictionary (1835-1910)