The European Union (EU) dealt a striking blow last month when Reuters reported that the Europoean Union decision forbids Microsoft from bundling Windows Media Player in Windows Vista. This is a landmark ruling that also upheld a $689M fine. While it really didn’t impact their bottom line, or stock price, this will definitely change the way they market Windows from here on out. The ruling states that MS harms consumer choice by tying new applications to Windows in a way that hurt competition. Now Microsoft must bundle versions of Windows (in Europe) without Windows Media Player, but the thing that seems to bother me is - why was that the only program that they targeted? IE put Netscape out of business, Windows Vista now includes Spyware protection and hard drive encryption software, in addition to Windows Movie Maker, Outlook Express, and more. You would think that they should just sell these additional “features” as add-on software programs to compete directly with software vendors instead of ‘baking’ them into Windows.

Tags: , , , , ,

Related Posts