Microsoft Windows XP N Flops

ChocLinux writes "Dell, Lenovo and Fujitsu Siemens have announced they have no plans to pre-install Windows XP N, the version of Windows without a bundled media player that Microsoft released to comply with the European Commission antitrust ruling. It is now almost six months since Microsoft released Windows XP N, and the fact that no-one wants to sell it suggests that this antitrust case may be going the way of the US one. Also, the article raises the question - now that RealNetworks has settled with Microsoft, will anyone bother to complain about this? Of course there's a chance that the EC might bring a new antitrust case against Microsoft, but how much more effective is that likely to be?"

Wrong target

[oliderid]

They should attack contracts between Microsoft and manufacturors. All these contracts binding the PC maker to Microsoft OS should be banned.

Then let the market decides which is the best OS. If it is still windows so be it. It simply means that the competitors aren't smarter than the competition from the 80's. When you have a competitive platform crippled with some many security flaws and PC maker free from any exclusivity, it must do the trick otherwise they are simply really bad at business.

Nobody knows how the PC market will involve technically in the upcoming years. But I guess that all OS should have a decent suite of multimedia softwares so clearly it is Microsoft's right to propose one.

For the little story:
I know that the EU commission has an open source plan internally (force subcontractors to code only under an open source license, etc.). It has been discussed for years (first time I've seen it, it was in 2000). It hasn't been implemented yet and worst it isn't part of their call of tenders requirements for web based applications on their Intranet/extranet.

Olivier

I didn't even know there was one

[borud]

I would certainly choose it if I were to buy an XP licence since I really do not want the Windows Media Player. Why? Well, because it just isn't any good. It is a sluggish resource hog and where I run Windows it has been replaced by alternatives that are much faster and less prone to crash.

Re:It is open

[Antique Geekmeister]

You need to pay attention. It's impossible to install Windows, and nearly impossible to get the Microsoft published updates for their terribly secure OS, without Internet Explorer. It's also nearly impossible to take Internet Explorer out. And any hardware vendor that tried to install Netscape or now Firefox as their default browser or even include it on the desktop as an alternate to Internet Explorer suddenly finds its OEM license prices raised, and threatened by lawsuit if they reveal the predatory pricing. MS got caught repeatedly doing this sort of stunt.

The same sort of monopoly predation just got revealed in court, if OEM vendors produced systems with the Real multi-media software installed instead of or even in addition to the Windows Media players. It's nasty, and it's illegal in most country's anti-monopoly or anti-trust laws. The difficulty is in getting Microsoft all the way through the courts: actually pressing suit against a company the size of Microsoft is no small feat. Unfortunately, judges like Judge White in the most recent US anti-trust case against them are far too willing to ignore blatant criminatlity, even revealed in their own court room, in the interests of "promoting competition".

I urge you to go investigate the courtroom dealings of companies like this over at http://www.groklaw.net./ [www.groklaw.net] The behavior is quite scary.

Re:Some fun facts

[mpe]

Microsoft knows, and has always been able to see, what is "right" and what isn't. But like all large commercial enterprises they don't give a flying fuck about right and wrong.

Actually corporations are ment to place profit above all else. If the aditional profits likely to result from breaking a law are likely to be greater than the likely losses from fines and lawsuits then they could argue an "obligation" to break the law. Even to treat fines as a "cost of doing business". Note also that lawsuits against a large corporation have little to no effect on their business. Simply the cost of paying some lawyers, not something which will disrupt a business. Whereas for an individual (or a small business) a civil case (as either plaintiff or defendent) may easily mean lost wages or having to shut down a business. Being accused of a criminal matter almost certainly will be disruptive to a person's life.

Re:Come on...

[Anonymous Coward]

This whole business is just a symptom of a larger problem: corporations are too large, have too much influence and even vast conglomerations of power like the EC no longer have any power over them -- since the people who make up the EC are the same class of people who control/invest in the corporations.

I don't know what it'll take to do it, but we desperately need someone with balls of steel to break these fuckers up and put them back in their proper places -- ala Standard Oil and Ma Bell in the US, or even further back, the British East India Company, which in many ways was bigger and more powerful than anything today.

Re:Come on...

[Anonymous Coward]

It would be interesting to see if the companies that refused to sell Windows without wmv got any special bonus from Microsoft.Or maybe even responded to a threat? Of course Microsoft would never say something like, "we won't provide any tech support for version n", or, if stupid enough, "we will give you a discount only if you do not sell n" or even "you won't get early copies of newer versions to test with your hardware if you sell N" Not that those "incentives" would be necessary, but if such offers were made in responose to a legal ruling, that might be an interesting legal issue.

Re:Problem of lazy users.

[computerdude33]

My parents know there are alternatives, but they really are lazy. They don't use IE; they use Netscape 7.2. They don't even bother switching to SeaMonkey. People will generally use whatever is on the system, or whatever name has somewhat of a historical significance.

Re:Speaking as a mac user, it pains me to say this

[kallisti777]

Buy a consumer desktop from Dell without an OS and we'll talk.

I'm using one right now... let's talk [dell.com].

VC-1 is just the video codec

[benwaggoner]

Actually, VC-1 is just the name for the SMPTE-standardized version of the WMV9 and WMV9-Advanced Profile video codec. There isn't any standardized version of WMA (although open source implementations certainly exist).

You're right on the license fees - one can get those from MPEG-LA without having to get approval, or write a check to, Microsoft directly.

The Fine

[__aamkky7574]

Serious question: where does the 500 million go? P.