4 ms·

And microsoft is walking scot free. They can happily control operating systems, office tools, a slice of search, ides, ads within their os, are allowed to buy l

And microsoft is walking scot free. They can happily control operating systems, office tools, a slice of search, ides, ads within their os, are allowed to buy large game makers and soon ai. As a bare minimum they should be forced greater compatibility with running their software on linux and ideally be banned from doing ads, ai and gamedev.

dtech 3y ago
The EU has brought several antitrust cases against Microsoft regarding Windows and Office and succeeded, and recently fined them for anti-competitive behavior on video calling software.
juujian 3y ago
The EU has targeted Microsoft more than once. For example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Corp._v._Commission https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Corp._v._Commission
vooffle 3y ago
Microsoft gets a free pass because they're a 1-stop shop for governments and companies running offices. A walled garden is useful when non-technical people have to keep information somewhat securely. Google's search and ad dominance on the other hand are less convenient for governments.
Yujf 3y ago
I agree they should be forced to offer office on Linux. It is one of the things that really keeps Linux down for normal people. Why should they not be able to offer ads in their own products though? I don't like ads but I do not immediataly see the issue. I think they should absolutly be allowed to do AI but things like only allowing bing chat in Edge should be banned. The amount of pushing they do is clearly not OK. And same for google they should not be allowed to push chrome on you when you go to gmail or google in a non chrome browser
- hardware2win 3y ago
  >I agree they should be forced to offer office on Linux They created web version
  - Yujf 3y ago
    The web version is completely inferior though
    - hardware2win 3y ago
      Hmm, im not advanced Excel user but 90% of the time I use web version
nologic01 3y ago
well at least they are selling their office products instead of offering them for "free" out of their infinite benevolence. ideally you want clean separation of business models and competition with each of the business models. overbearing conglomerates are not the way forward for the tech industry.
delfinom 3y ago
>are allowed to buy large game makers Didn't get the memo that both the UK and now US are blocking the Activision purchase? >As a bare minimum they should be forced greater compatibility with running their software on linux They do where it makes sense? PWA seems to be the main route they are taking, Office is slowly being migrated to PWA, Outlook is the first application being converted and is already available for testing by end users on Windows for now. It's sad because it's losing native functionality in exchange for PWA :( Otherwise native desktop apps are already a difficult endeavor for anyone, Linux is an absolute fucking nightmare when it comes to packaging for everyone's NIH distro and I say that as a maintainer of a popular OSS package ;) >ads within their os The "ads" within their OS are only for upselling their own products. They are hardly ads and both Apple, Google and every other company does it. But somehow it's a problem if Microsoft throws a banner telling you trying OneDrive.
hardware2win 3y ago
Android, linux, macos ios? Jetbrains IDEs? Google docs? Theres shitton of viable alternatives except maybe for Excel
jsnell 3y ago
EU just in the last month launched an antitrust probe into Microsoft's preferential licensing of their software (like Windows, SQL Server) when run on Azure compared to running it on other clouds. Probes aren't guaranteed to turn into enforcement, but Microsoft is certainly not able to act without scrutiny.
GeekyBear 3y ago
> microsoft is walking scot free Microsoft is currently under investigated for using software licensing to prop up Azure. > The crux of the issue relates to a 2019 licensing change enacted by Microsoft, effectively making it more expensive to run Microsoft’s omnipresent enterprise software on rival cloud services. Fast-forward to last year’s snowballing antitrust legal challenges, and Microsoft revealed it was making some changes designed to make “bringing workloads and licenses to partners’ clouds easier,” which it did to an extent — with the notable exceptions of so-called “listed providers” that include AWS, Google, and Alibaba. So in effect, Microsoft is kinda making it easier for companies to run Microsoft software on non-Azure clouds, but only if they’re not using Microsoft’s main rivals’ infrastructure. https://techcrunch.com/2023/04/20/microsoft-kickstarts-settlement-discussions-with-european-cloud-trade-body-over-antitrust-complaints/ https://techcrunch.com/2023/04/20/microsoft-kickstarts-settl...
garganzol 3y ago
Microsoft at least sells real products that should be designed, produced and supported. Google sells, figuratively speaking, air, and redirects the profits to "own the world" by crushing the competition in other areas. Google undoubtedly has some decent products as well (Android, Google Workspace) but this is a drop in the ocean.

dtech 3y ago

The EU has brought several antitrust cases against Microsoft regarding Windows and Office and succeeded, and recently fined them for anti-competitive behavior on video calling software.

juujian 3y ago

The EU has targeted Microsoft more than once. For example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Corp._v._Commission https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Corp._v._Commission

vooffle 3y ago

Microsoft gets a free pass because they're a 1-stop shop for governments and companies running offices. A walled garden is useful when non-technical people have to keep information somewhat securely. Google's search and ad dominance on the other hand are less convenient for governments.

Yujf 3y ago

I agree they should be forced to offer office on Linux. It is one of the things that really keeps Linux down for normal people. Why should they not be able to offer ads in their own products though? I don't like ads but I do not immediataly see the issue. I think they should absolutly be allowed to do AI but things like only allowing bing chat in Edge should be banned. The amount of pushing they do is clearly not OK. And same for google they should not be allowed to push chrome on you when you go to gmail or google in a non chrome browser

hardware2win 3y ago
>I agree they should be forced to offer office on Linux They created web version
- Yujf 3y ago
  The web version is completely inferior though
  - hardware2win 3y ago
    Hmm, im not advanced Excel user but 90% of the time I use web version

nologic01 3y ago

well at least they are selling their office products instead of offering them for "free" out of their infinite benevolence. ideally you want clean separation of business models and competition with each of the business models. overbearing conglomerates are not the way forward for the tech industry.

delfinom 3y ago

>are allowed to buy large game makers Didn't get the memo that both the UK and now US are blocking the Activision purchase? >As a bare minimum they should be forced greater compatibility with running their software on linux They do where it makes sense? PWA seems to be the main route they are taking, Office is slowly being migrated to PWA, Outlook is the first application being converted and is already available for testing by end users on Windows for now. It's sad because it's losing native functionality in exchange for PWA :( Otherwise native desktop apps are already a difficult endeavor for anyone, Linux is an absolute fucking nightmare when it comes to packaging for everyone's NIH distro and I say that as a maintainer of a popular OSS package ;) >ads within their os The "ads" within their OS are only for upselling their own products. They are hardly ads and both Apple, Google and every other company does it. But somehow it's a problem if Microsoft throws a banner telling you trying OneDrive.

hardware2win 3y ago

Android, linux, macos ios? Jetbrains IDEs? Google docs? Theres shitton of viable alternatives except maybe for Excel

jsnell 3y ago

EU just in the last month launched an antitrust probe into Microsoft's preferential licensing of their software (like Windows, SQL Server) when run on Azure compared to running it on other clouds. Probes aren't guaranteed to turn into enforcement, but Microsoft is certainly not able to act without scrutiny.

GeekyBear 3y ago

> microsoft is walking scot free Microsoft is currently under investigated for using software licensing to prop up Azure. > The crux of the issue relates to a 2019 licensing change enacted by Microsoft, effectively making it more expensive to run Microsoft’s omnipresent enterprise software on rival cloud services. Fast-forward to last year’s snowballing antitrust legal challenges, and Microsoft revealed it was making some changes designed to make “bringing workloads and licenses to partners’ clouds easier,” which it did to an extent — with the notable exceptions of so-called “listed providers” that include AWS, Google, and Alibaba. So in effect, Microsoft is kinda making it easier for companies to run Microsoft software on non-Azure clouds, but only if they’re not using Microsoft’s main rivals’ infrastructure. https://techcrunch.com/2023/04/20/microsoft-kickstarts-settlement-discussions-with-european-cloud-trade-body-over-antitrust-complaints/ https://techcrunch.com/2023/04/20/microsoft-kickstarts-settl...

garganzol 3y ago

Microsoft at least sells real products that should be designed, produced and supported. Google sells, figuratively speaking, air, and redirects the profits to "own the world" by crushing the competition in other areas. Google undoubtedly has some decent products as well (Android, Google Workspace) but this is a drop in the ocean.