Keep in mind that fining and collecting are 2 different things… ;D ;D
A fine is nothing more than a verbal warning of an impending possible disaster to be
collected at some future time for a jet to be negotiated amount. 
Yeah, right, I’ll tell that to the judge next time I’m up before the beak.
Frank,
I didn’t know you had access to the same lawyers as MS ???
And where is Microsoft going to get that money to pay the fine? From us of course. Microsoft will not lose any money on the deal. It’s just the EU’s way to get a cut of the action.
Not so much a cut of the action, EU is just being very aggressive towards MS right now because of the monopoly that they have had.
Hi justin1278,
“Antitrust is a chronic condition of doing business for Microsoft,” said Matt Rosoff, an analyst at research firm Directions on Microsoft. “I don’t think that’s going away.” The Antitrust landscape in the States has changed, but Microsoft is not off the hook in the EU yet, there is more coming down this pipeline,
polonus
The EU should go after Apple, also. With buying a Mac a requirement to use osx, it keeps M$ a monopoly. M$ shouldn’t have a monopoly in the EU lawsuits. : Apple should share in the EU lawsuits, too. ;D
After all, Does Microsoft has enough money to buy out Google :
Apple does share in the EU lawsuits, but on the Music player front.
Hmm so >10% of the computer market is a monopoly? Could have fooled me. : One could however argue that Apple has near monopoly status in the Music player market (about 75% market share).
Apple is not keeping M$ a monopoly, M$ is by not making the info available for other OSes like Linux to be interoperable with Windows and hence the fines by the EU. Apple’s decision not to license the OS is no different than Motorola not letting other Phones use its OS. Lots of people want to use OS X but not buy Apple’s hardware. Controlling the hardware the OS runs on is one of the reasons why the Mac OS is so great.
Bottom line, if you don’t want a Mac then use Windows or Linux. Currently Apple is very profitable as is (around 50% of revenue from Mac HARDWARE sales) and as long as thats the case don’t look for Apple to change their sales strategy.
Apple is not keeping M$ a monopoly, M$ is by not making the info available for other OSes like Linux to be interoperable with Windows and hence the fines by the EU. Apple's decision not to license the OS is no different than Motorola not letting other Phones use its OS. Lots of people want to use OS X but not buy Apple's hardware. Controlling the hardware the OS runs on is one of the reasons why the Mac OS is so great.
So when MS doesn’t make it’s code available for others to use, then it’s a Monopoly ???
When Apple does it, it’s good business ???
Something “SMELLS” 
Nothing “Smells” MSFT has made the data available but charged very high prices so that developers can’t afford it. Thats why the EU is after them. This has nothing to do with Apple’s Decision not to license its OS. IF that hurts anyone its hurting Apple but its [i][u]their choice (or actually its up to Steve as is Everything at Apple)
I agree Apple could sell lots of copies of OS X to PC users. But then the cost would quickly go up becasue of the additional R&D to support all the hardware out there. Its Much more profitable as it stands now for them to use their current model and it results in a great User Experience.
You need to get over the fact that you can’t use OS X. Either buy a Mac or put up with Vista, end of story because its not going to change as long as Steve is CEO.
and FYI Apple’s Kernel, Darwin, is Open Source (as is the Engine of Safari, and their Developer tools (XCode) has its source published too) so anyone can do what they need to get their product to work with the Mac. Which s why the EU is not after Apple 
Either buy a Mac or put up with Vista, end of story because its not going to change as long as Steve is CEO.Even Castro finally ended his reign.... ;D ;D
Smile Mac don’t take every comment as a personal assault.
Well most Mac users Don’t Want Steve to leave. Last time he left the results were not so great.
I’ve played with Mac’s, I don’t like Apple computers or OSX. I wouldn’t bother to buy & put osx on my pc if I could. But…
The EU needs to fine both MS & Apple in order to attain their goal. There is no competition with out a competing os. OSX can’t compete on vastly over expensive computers & as .: Mac :. said businesses don’t want to scrap their current equipment to buy Apples. I’ts costly. Linux isn’t automated like Mac & MS so it can’t compete.
The EU should fine Apple much more than MS as Windows can be installed on virtually any computer, so MS isn’t stopping competition, Apple is!!! If not for TMP (or TPM or whatever it’s called), osx could be on most pc’s.
Also, the competition would result in better Windows & Apples os’s.
Mac, please don’t argue, we can’t settle this issue, the EU needs to do it. The US government should assist the EU in forcing competition to end the monopoly. I know you’re going to post Mac’s are close in price to pc’s, no they’re not! I keep a check on prices, I want to buy a new computer.
No Government is going to fine a company because it choses not to compete.
Just because there are no sub-$500 Macs everyone thinks they are expensive, heck thats todays argument in a nutshell everyone is Mad they cant run OS X on a sub-$500 computer.
Linux can’t really compete with windows because so much is command line based. Until Linux can be used without that command line (and it has been improving just look at Ubuntu) Apple is the only one that can and they have Obviously chosen not to go head to head with Windows on a large scale because Steve would rather have a Great User Experience than a large Market. When he retires Apple most likely will License the OS just as it did in the past when Steve was not there. And you will see what truly is the Mac, the great user friendliness and reliability of the OS, disappear as they Struggle to support the myriad of the Hardware out there just as Microsoft does.
As a long time Mac user I have seen what happened when Apple didn’t require you to Buy the Hardware and software together. Mac OS became so unstable (anyone remember OS 7.x and the “bombs”) and the loss of the Hardware revenue nearly drove the Company bankrupt.
So for everyone wanting Apple to sell their OS on PCs, for whatever reason, just remember they have already tried that idea and failed.
It seems like every 3-4 months we go through this same argument. Frankly im tired of it. IM realllllly outnumbered here
Exactly what I said.
Exactly what I said. Apple is the only OS that can compete with MS.
Bit of history
Microsoft Uses Linux To Publish Its Own Web Site Wed. Aug. 20, 2003
Microsoft has made a big deal out of asserting that Linux is not fit for the enterprise. But Microsoft itself is using Linux to help protect its servers against denial-of-service attacks."Microsoft using a Linux service is ironic, given that Microsoft has identified Linux as its biggest competitor." Don't know that the Web landscape has changed that much over the years , when in a pinch Microsoft can always turn to Open Source software , just like the rest of us . As far as EU "fining" MS $1.3 Billion ? To a Company who's worth around 340 Billion dollars what does it matter , just loose change . This has gone on for years , with bare minimal compliance by MS to get their product through . Interesting soap opera really :)
MS regards Linux as it’s biggest competitor because Apple won’t allow OSX to compete with Windows.
OSX is the only OS that can compete with Windows by function. That is what Kyle & I were referring to.