Actually UK Goverment depertmanets are currently switching over to Linux based OS and a recent Government review of Schools recommend switching to Apple.

Microsoft won't be banned from the EU. They need Microsoft too much.

Every time the EU gets into financial difficulty, they b*tchslap Microsoft with another million dollar fine. If Microsoft stopped doing business there, not only would it hurt the economies of all countries with companies that depend on Microsoft products but the EU would lose a major source of revenue.

I'm sorry, but people should be shot for being this stupid. First of all, the fines MS have paid were due to noncompliance with a court order. They are essentially defying the governments of these European governmennts. They have had years to comply and refused to because they made far more money keeping their secrets than they lost in fines. They willfully defied the law.

And on top of that, and this is where it gets really stupid, the EU represents the strongest economy (economic collective) in the world right now, and they have the strongest currency. If this were some sort of money grab, it wouldn't have been done by the EU but by the U.S. And if it were a money grab, they wouldn't be fining them for a court case from several years ago, they'd just take them to court again and get a lot more money.

And what's this humbug about them changing international laws? Europe has had anti-trust laws for a logn time. Hell, the U.S. has had essentially the same laws for over a hundred years. The U.S. has used those laws, too, even against MS at one point. Again, MS broke the law, a court assigned them a fine, and they have not complied. Why should a company be rewarded for breaking the law? Why shouldn't they be punished? MS is guilty of breaking many, many laws, and the EU is finally holding them accountable for it, simple as that.

And, BTW, what the EU has told MS to do is the same thing the U.S. told Intel to do. When a company holds exclusive sway over an industry by holding onto technology the government does have the ability to say that you have to share those secrets or face the penalty. MS chose to face the penalty, because it lost them less money for 3 years, even when the fine reached 3 million a day.

The proble is that the majority of curriculum software is win32 based.

this isnt a matter of us economy vs eu economy. this is a matter of us businesses dominating european businessess. how many of the absolute top companies in an industry are from europe instead of the us? not too many. the us courts should respond back and attack big eu companies (oh wait...). they are doing the same thing with intel. us should respond and protect our interests jsut as the eu is doing.

this isnt a matter of us economy vs eu economy. this is a matter of us businesses dominating european businessess. how many of the absolute top companies in an industry are from europe instead of the us? not too many. the us courts should respond back and attack big eu companies (oh wait...). they are doing the same thing with intel. us should respond and protect our interests jsut as the eu is doing.

I'm sorry, but people should be shot for being this stupid. First of all, the fines MS have paid were due to noncompliance with a court order. They are essentially defying the governments of these European governmennts. They have had years to comply and refused to because they made far more money keeping their secrets than they lost in fines. They willfully defied the law.  Can you clarify which of the many fines you're talking about? 357m?  613m?  1.3b? ^_~

And on top of that, and this is where it gets really stupid, the EU represents the strongest economy (economic collective) in the world right now, and they have the strongest currency. If this were some sort of money grab, it wouldn't have been done by the EU but by the U.S. And if it were a money grab, they wouldn't be fining them for a court case from several years ago, they'd just take them to court again and get a lot more money.  The financial difficulty comment was a typo on my part.  ^_^

And what's this humbug about them changing international laws? Europe has had anti-trust laws for a logn time. Hell, the U.S. has had essentially the same laws for over a hundred years. The U.S. has used those laws, too, even against MS at one point. Again, MS broke the law, a court assigned them a fine, and they have not complied. Why should a company be rewarded for breaking the law? Why shouldn't they be punished? MS is guilty of breaking many, many laws, and the EU is finally holding them accountable for it, simple as that.  The real key is at one point they're considered a trust.  "Not a trust, not a trust, not a trust, (hey we could use some money..), you're a trust!  Gotcha!"

And, BTW, what the EU has told MS to do is the same thing the U.S. told Intel to do. When a company holds exclusive sway over an industry by holding onto technology the government does have the ability to say that you have to share those secrets or face the penalty. MS chose to face the penalty, because it lost them less money for 3 years, even when the fine reached 3 million a day.