RSSIn Her Own Words: Neelie Kroes on the MS fines
By Ed Oswald | Published February 28, 2008, 4:12 PM
The European Commissioner stood in front of reporters Wednesday morning to announce the EU's latest round of sanctions against Microsoft.
While BetaNews reported on the news that the EU would be fining Microsoft 899 million euros at that time, we are posting snippets of her comments and answers to reporters questions below in order to give our readers an better idea of the bloc's reasons for this latest round of sanctions.
On the fine itself: "Given the nature of Microsoft's non-compliance, considering both its effects and its duration, today's fine is proportionate and is necessary."
On Microsoft's apparent concession to the EU's demands: "We take positive changes to business practices very seriously. But again, and I stress that a press release in itself, such as that issued by Microsoft last week on interoperability principles, does not necessarily equal a change in a business practice. And if change is needed -- and as I say, I have reached no conclusion on that -- then the change will need to be in the market, not in the rhetoric."
Sending a message to others: "This is a signal whereby we make it very clear that it is unacceptable if you don't abide by the rules, just as in traffic. If you don't stick to the rules in traffic, then you get a fine."
On fining companies for wrongdoing: "It's never [a] pleasure. For me, the best day in office will be when there are zero fines, so to say. For that -- but if we are doing the job properly, and that having been said, we are doing the job properly and all those in the outside world are behaving."
Why the commission opted not to fine the full 1.5 billion euros: "I think this is absolutely reasonable and you should take into account that the sky is not the limit for fines, it is just to be explained that we are reasonable and they have to be reasonable on their terms."
Was Microsoft's public interoperability announcement enough?: "Talk is cheap ... let's wait and let's find the reality in this case. And it's not the first moment that they were announcing this. We do have a couple of experiences."
The full transcript of the press conference is available from Groklaw.
The EU abuses their power again.......
when did anyone in their right mind vote to give
the EU power over anything?
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|NObody in their right mind would, or have ever agreed to give anybody power over everything. Absolute power is often obtained through misrepresentation or subsequent corruption of ethical principles.
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|Then why can't I install java software developed by me in my Vodafone mobile phone?
Shouldn't Vodafone get fined too?
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|I wonder what Neelie Kroes would say if Microsoft decided not to do business at all in the European Union?
"It's never [a] pleasure. For me, the best day in office will be when there are zero fines, so to say. For that -- but if we are doing the job properly, and that having been said, we are doing the job properly and all those in the outside world are behaving."
Rubbish, she obviously enjoys every minute of it....socking it to America in her own pathetic way and at the same time bolstering the EU's coffers..and ensuring her place in the history books.
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|Learn your history, you ignorant cretin. The EC has levied massive fines on European and Japanese corporations for similar anti-consumer practices.
"I wonder what Neelie Kroes would say if Microsoft decided not to do business at all in the European Union?"
Maybe you're too god-damned thick, so I'll explain to you: Microsoft would be allowed to honour its existing contracts, resulting in a gradual winding down of their operations. The void would slowly be filled by Linux and OSX, resulting in Microsoft's biggest market (Europe) being dominated by Linux and Apple.
Microsoft pulling out of the EU would be financial suicide, and the shareholders wouldn't allow it for that reason.
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|You've said it all kronix2 and very nicely - top notch reply.
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|It was only conjecture and at least I don't go around calling perfect strangers names, but then that is so prevalent in the Linux/Mac set these days.
Europe isn't the entire world you know, no more than America is (despite what their citizens think).
The fines imposed by the EU, whether justified or not, are obscene and it seems to me that the EU is anxious to stifle free enterprise, rather than encourage it.
If Microsoft Corp was a European company I wonder if we would be arguing here in the first place? Probably not.
I don't agree with the heavy handed EU policies, sorry. I'm entitled to my opinion as I live in a free country, Canada. But, FYI, I was born in Europe and lived there for many years, probably most of them before you were born. So don't talk to me about history - it was one of my best subjects at public school in England.
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|All I see is extortion by the EU again. Maybe I'm missing something here.
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|yeap, you are giving up your human rights.
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|Huh??
I've always had the right to choose which products I use.
If anyone chose MS products, they had their reason. If there are perceptions of "bundling" issues, it is perfectly fine to start the migration to other products, or (if initial investment preservation is an issue) search for the alternative solutions.
There are many open source, freeware and shareware alternatives to MS products. I'm almost certain that in the information age, we BetaNews members are not the only ones aware of these.
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|Whether anyone outside of these two parties agrees with the rationale or punishment, or not, doesn't matter. The fact remains that these two have spent so much time being hostile and beligerent to each other that it was only a matter of time before something like this happened. And this may not be the end of it either.
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|Yeah...this doesn't answer any of my questions. Doesn't really give me any more questions to ask either. Just talk from Neelie.
Okay, maybe a few things come to mind:
If you don't stick to the rules in traffic, then you get a fine.
If the rules were as specific as traffic rules were, then IMO we wouldn't be having this problem. So my big question is: what is the specific reasoning behind this fine? Where are the specifics?
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|Abuse of market power to stifle innovation. It's right there in the transcript. The rules are the same in pretty much every country - it's just that the EU either a) can't be bought, or b) is big enough that MS has to take notice.
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|Abuse of market power to stifle innovation
How quaint. Doesn't answer the question *at all*, but triggers an emotional response.
Define abuse.
Tell us how they've "stifled innovation".
Doesn't Mac OSX innovate?
Didn't Ubuntu, Compiz, and RedHat innovate?
Didn't WinAMP innovate? FireFox?
Did Google innovate?
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|There were some negotiations before the fine was announced. I think Ballmer said "oooh fine me again Mistress Kroes, and make it a big one. I've been a very naughty boy."
Or maybe there is another explanation for why Microsoft acts the way it does.
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|It has a model built on returning shareholder value. That is all companies ultimately care about. That is the end-result of every single corporation on the planet.
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|"Or maybe there is another explanation for why Microsoft acts the way it does."
They earn more money by not abiding to the rules. That happens every day in Corporate America. There are movies about it.
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