Microsoft VISTA

[Renegade 13]

El_Phil said:

I don't hate success, I just dislike seeing cheaters prosper. He's broken many laws and gotten a minor slap on the wrist, it is annoying.

However Windows is still better than the competiton, no-one has produced anything better for my gaming needs. Yes Bill has done everything in his power to stifle and stop any competition, but that's the world. If he'd done it fairly I wouldn't mind.

What I dislike is breaking the law to do so and then not getting punished for it.

What laws has he broken? I'm sincerely curious here, not trying to be argumentative, by the way I don't really keep up on that kind of thing!

[NullAshton]

I think there was a few anti-trust lawsuits or something.

[El_Phil]

Mainly monopoly laws, or anti-trust as the Americans call it. Also unpleasent buisness practices.

In no paticular order it was illegaly nasty to IBM.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/07/01/ibm_ms_settle/
There was also deliberatly writing programs to break if IBMs Dr DOS was detected so programmes would only work on MS DOS. Not perhaps illegal, but underhand.

Commited serious anti-trust offences (Became a monopoly illegaly and then abused its position)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2002/11...eal_microsoft/
But got off when Bush got into power (allegedly ). In any case the DoJ cut a deal shortly after the election

Oh and annoyed the EU by abusing its dominant OS position to force feed media player to customers. There are other cases still ambling through the courts.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/06/09/ms_wmp_windows/

There has also been a very clear understanding, if OEMs and system builders wanted to have Windows then on competing software could be bundled. This would be fine, but by this time ('98 ish) Windows was a defacto monopoly and so it would be commercial suicide not to sell PCs with Windows on. This is called 'Abusing a monopoly position.'