Yesterday I took part in a Microsoft conference call for European journalists (see below). Later, there was a similar call for US journalists, with Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer taking part. You can listen to it or read a transcript here.
As you might expect, there was some American tub-thumping absent from the European call. Microsoft counsel Brad Smith said: "This is a case that started in the United States. Microsoft is an American company. The complainant companies are American companies. The software is designed in the United States, and the US government dealt with the issues thoroughly. There was no need for the commission to disrupt that regime with this conflicting approach in which it's embarked today."
US politicians are already taking up the cause: see US politicos fire at EU's Microsoft ruling. (It must be a while since Microsoft had US politicians on its side.....)
Smith also pointed out that the US courts specifically rejected Monti's code-removal strategy. The US court said, according to Smith's quotes, that "innovation would be stifled" with this type of approach, that "this would disrupt the industry, harming independent software vendors and consumers" and result in "clear and certain harm to the entire personal computer ecosystem".
Regardless of the rights and wrongs of the case, when it comes to finding a solution, I have to agree with the US court's opinion: the EC's decision is clearly and immediately harmful to consumers, who will be forced to buy a less capable, less functional operating system (with no reduction in price). I also sympathise with Microsoft's point: its offer to ship three alternative media players (so every European user got four of the things) would have benefited consumers more than code removal.
It might also have been better for EU PC suppliers. I can see more people buying PCs overseas ---and, particularly, buying laptops in the US -- as a way of getting round the "broken Windows" problem.
However, I am not too disposed to complain. The advantage with code removal is that it should be simple to download and install the missing bits, if one so desires. This could be much easier than removing three unwanted media players, especially since one of them will most likely be a RealPlayer.
