Micosoft in legal case - shock

[kingandy]

Guh.

Microsoft is accused of "abusing its dominant market position" by bundling Windows Media Player with the OS.  Their defence?

Linda Averett of Microsoft told the Court of First Instance in Luxembourg on Friday that many websites and software products would not work without the Windows Media Player.

She said that without the player, customers who buy computers with Windows "are very likely to feel deceived when they find that websites don't work".

Yeah.  No shit.  Well maybe you shouldn't be encouraging people to build websites that are wholly reliant on your software then, eh?  That's abuse of your market position, right there.

Comments

[gowhonker.livejournal.com]

Yeah, i've just read the article - to me, it reads as "We, Real Networks, want people to buy our player. However, Microsoft give a functional and versatile player away free with Windows. We want the consumer to pay money for an operating system, and then pay more money for a player. As an extension of this, we want the consumer to install additional components which, the court has ruled, will not be 100% compatible with Microsoft's O/S. But we don't care, because we want money."

Admittedly, i've read between the lines, but as a consumer, i feel that there is sufficient choice in the market, and i enjoy having an O/S that gives me internet access, player, compatability with 99% of games on the market and additional bells and whistles which i don't actually care about.