After accepting Bill Gate's bribes.. I mean, after deciding it was the right thing to do, several congressman have told Europe not to fine Microsoft the massive amount of millions it has announced.

Apparently, the reason being that the issues investigated by Europe have already been through the grinder here.

http://theinquirer.net/?article=14950

Anyone have any feelings on this article? I think since it is an American company, and since the infractions have already been run through the gauntlet here in the U.S., it's almost like double-jeopardy - not that I am too sympathetic to Microsoft - I just don't thnk it should happen to any company, U.S. or foreign for that matter...

IMO, you should be judged where you've broken the law & according to the laws in vigor there.

The people that have been milked by the monopoly are not all rich americans and they deserve the protection of their local laws. Not to mention that the laws that apply to a subject do not depend of the homeland of the subject but the country the subject operates in. And the charges that MS faced in US were not the same is in EU court anyway. And the "punishment" MS got in US was an even bigger joke than the one ruled by EU.

How much has Microsoft donated to Congress during the last four years?

Nodsu> Concur!

Had it been a matter where people wanting to use MS software had to import it themselves from the US, then I'd agree that it shouldn't be a new case in Europe, but since MS is creating localised versions of Windows specificly for sale in Europe, they have to follow the European laws.

And personally, I'm very happy with what Mario M. has shown so far. It doesn't seem like they're going to back down like the US did, so finally we might see the MS monopoly being stopped in growth. (Meaning that they won't try to add more products to the versions being sold in Europe, due to risk of yet another investigation)

Go Mario! (PS. Am I the only one who when reading the above story who thought of Super Mario defeating the evil MS?)

Oh, and here is a story from TheRegister which covers the same as the inq. (As I generally prefer the reg over the inq...)
And here is another story at the reg, but this time it's showing what MS is arguing.

Mario has a little less luck here: The Passion of the Mario

As I stated in another post....M$ won't pay more than a quarter of what they've been fined. They'll appeal it for a few years and by that time it'll be a moot point.

It is not about money. It is about giving other software developers a chance to offer alternatives to MS products. Also the ruling says that MS is guilty and that means somthing also no matter how small the punishment happens to be.

And better do a little a bit late than do nothing at all.

I agree with that. But I do think it's a fair amount to do the the money as well. That's a hefty chunk....even by M$ standards.

if microsoft committed crimes in different countries, they are under the jurisdiction of the respective countries. no way around that.