08.17.08
Quick Mention: New Antitrust Actions Against Microsoft?
Hard times. Microsoft gets no break. Not in China:
Evermore Chief Executive Gus Tsao said he’s prepared to pursue Microsoft under a new anti-monopoly law that took effect in China on Friday. The law is widely expected to be used to curtail the dominance of foreign companies doing business there, such as Microsoft.
Not in Taiwan, either.
The Consumers’ Foundation (CF), a private consumer watchdog, filed a complaint yesterday with the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) against Microsoft over the software giant’s pulling Windows XP from the Taiwan market in line with its migration to the new operating system Vista.
The CF urged the government body to impose sanctions on Microsoft for the termination of Windows XP sales in Taiwan.
“We suggest that the FTC slap Microsoft with a heavy fine for impairing market fairness,” said CF Acting Chairman Hsieh Tien-jen while delivering the complaint to the commission.
[…]
“Sixty-seven percent of local users want a return of XP to the market,” he said, citing the results of another poll.
He described Microsoft’s marketing strategy as an abuse of consumer rights.
Taiwan should not rely too much on the FTC. It’s too corrupt. █
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.