10.25.07
Antitrust Action to End in Europe, Begin in South Korea
Microsoft has decided to withdraw all its appeals in Europe and quickly escape after turning a big defeat into a win.
Microsoft said on Wednesday it had formally withdrawn two remaining appeals before the European Union’s Court of First Instance against European Commission antitrust decisions.
The following new article indicates that Microsoft is unlikely to escape heavy fine though. In fact, billions in fines are foreseen, but given what Microsoft has just achieved in Europe, these fines are insignificant in the long term. Europe has mistakenly enabled Microsoft to continue its monopoly abuse and exclude Free software rivals.
More about the appeals:
It [Microsoft] also appealed against the Commission’s demands that it make the protocols available to open-source software developers.
However, in light of the agreement reached between Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes on Monday, these appeals became redundant.
What a disaster. In South Korea, a lawsuit has meanwhile been launched to protest against monopoly abuse.
According to Korean newspaper Chosun, the US software mammoth has been accused of causing a loss in sales revenue estimated at W30bn (US$1=W918) because the firm’s Windows operating system comes pre-loaded with a media player and instant messaging.
Seoul Central District Court confirmed yesterday that Digito was suing Microsoft in the US and Korea, claiming that the software giant had violated the Fair Trade Act since 2000.
This was pretty much foreseen. Hopefully, lawsuits in Asia will be more fruitful. They also prove that complaints about Microsoft are consistent and they are not a case of Europe being “anti-American” (some such accusations are made).
Highlight: Novell was the first to acknowledge that Microsoft FUD tactics had substance. Novell then used anti-Linux FUD to market itself. 
Highlight: Xandros let Microsoft make patent claims and brag about (paid-for) OOXML support. 
Highlight: Linspire's CEO not only fell into Microsoft arms, but he also assisted the company's attack on GNU/Linux. 
Highlight: Microsoft craves pseudo (proprietary) standards and gets its way using proxies and influence which it buys. 
Highlight: The invasion into the open source world is intended to leave Linux companies neglected, due to financial incentives from Microsoft. 
Analysis: Xen, an open source hypervisor, possibly fell victim to Microsoft's aggressive (and stealthy) acquisition-by-proxy strategy.