EU Antitrust Decision On Microsoft To Include Cash Component
from the pay-up dept
It's no secret that the EU is expected to knock Microsoft this week for anti-trust violations, and the latest leak says that the ruling will include a fine somewhere in the range of $600 million which will barely make a dent in Microsoft's cash reserves - but still isn't something to sneeze at. The fine is lower than the maximum they could have gone for (approximately $3 billion), but you can bet Microsoft still won't be happy. Of course, as with any such decision against Microsoft, they are planning to appeal and drag it out for as long as possible so that the actual impact of the decision may not do very much to the company.
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fight in court, or just raise the price
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Re: fight in court, or just raise the price
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Good for the schools?
I wonder if this will include a stipulation that the $600 million should be used by Microsoft to procure 60,000 machines @ $10,000 a pop (for Microsoft software and hardware, though you could find comparable machines without Microsoft software for 1/10th to 1/20th of that cost,) to give to poor and disadvantaged schools in Europe like the sweetheart deal they gave schools here in the US (which will come back to haunt these schools in the future.)
If I were Microsoft, I'd be looking right now into how to spin this into EU's plan if an appeal is not awarded, since ultimately such a deal will further Microsoft's goals while limiting their cash outflow.) Of course, I am not Microsoft, and I would love to see the EU turn around and say "you wish to appeal? no problem, the fine is now 3 billion..." and when Microsoft tries this crap like they did in the US, the EU should turn around and say, "yes, Microsoft, you can buy computers for the schools, but they have to be less that $2000 per machine, and Lindows, SuSE, or whatever, has to be installed on all of them (no Microsoft software allowed, period.)"
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