CNN Money has a news report up stating the European regulators ruled Wednesday that Microsoft broke antitrust law and levied a $611.8 million fine for illegally crushing the competition. This is approximately 1% of Microsoft’s finances in a 48 day period.
“”Today’s decision restores the conditions for fair competition in the market concerned and establishes clear principles for the future conduct of a company with such a strong dominant position,” Competition Commissioner Mario Monti said in a statement.”
Bill Gates, after hearing the fine amount, asked the commission nonchalantly, “Would you like fries with that?”
I think that kind of comment is just the sort of reason why people hate Microsoft. We are in the position of them being the market dominator but I am getting more and more interested in my Mac and Linux.
On another note I feel he’s an arrogant (**censored**).
lastly and just to be bitchy you would think a man with that kind of wealth could afford a decent haircut.
Although the fine is enormous, it is unlikely to worry a corporation with a cash surplus of over fifty billion dollars.
For the most part, I like Microsoft products. I am particularly impressed with its Office suite. My only real bugbear is that the integration of Internet Explorer with Windows has effectively killed any possibility of browser improvement for the near future. As good as other browsers get, they cannot compete when applications are created rely on the embedded IE client to function.
On the subject of Bill’s hair, I can only say that he has probably reached the stage where he doesn’t give two hoots what other people think of him.
Bill Gates may be Satan to some, but there is no denying that he is a very clever, very shrewd man. Folks that have met him say that he is one of the nicest, warmest guys you will ever meet. The same cannot be said for Linus Torvalds, Jeff Bezos, Larry Ellison, or Steve Jobs, for example.
I’m of the same opinion; I really enjoy Microsoft’s products for the most part, but the Internet Explorer browser is a disgrace considering how behind it is on the technology curve and support of standards. Steve Ballmer said Microsoft is kicking themselves in the butt recently because they didn’t focus on search engine R&D sooner, and I have a feeling they’re going to do the same thing soon once people realize the Mozilla/Firefox browsers are far superior.
As for Bill Gates, the man has made more of a difference then most governments combined. He has donated billions to charity for many different important causes. I have a lot of respect for the man.