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EU Says Governments Could Bar Microsoft From Bidding

,----[ Quote ]
| Governments contracting IT work could conclude that Microsoft's antitrust
| history constitutes "grave professional misconduct" and ban the company,
| according to the European Commission.
`----

http://www.pcworld.com/businesscente...m_bidding.html

"Hey, Steve, just because you broke into Xerox’s store before I did and took
the TV doesn’t mean I can’t go in later and steal the stereo."

--Bill Gates, Microsoft

Steve Jobs took the TV, Gates stole the stereo and Steve Ballmer must be
breaking chairs.


Recent:

EU: Europarlement testing Ubuntu, OpenOffice and Firefox

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| The European Parliament's IT department is testing the use of GNU/Linux
| distribution Ubuntu, OpenOffice, Firefox and other Open Source applications,
| the British MEP James Nicholson explained last week in a letter to Italian
| MEP Marco Cappato. Â*
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http://ec.europa.eu/idabc/en/document/7565


Is Microsoft Now Banned from EU Contracts?

http://www.computerworlduk.com/toolb...=697&blogid=14


Euro MP thinks Microsoft should be banned from government contracts

http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquir...arliament-asks


Green MEP says Microsoft should be excluded from EU contract awarding procedure

http://www.heise.de/english/newstick...338/from/rss09


EC probes OOXML standards-setting process

,----[ Quote ]
| A spokesman for the European Commissioner for Competition, Neelie Kroes, told
| The Register that regulators were continuing to scrutinise interoperability
| issues related to Microsoft’s products following complaints from the
| Committee for Interoperable Systems (ECIS) group. Â*
|
| As part of that process, the EC formally contacted a number of national
| standards bodies, including the Norwegian Standards Institute (NSI),
| requesting more details about possible irregularities in the OOXML
| standardisation process. Â*
|
| [...]
|
| “It must be stressed that it is not the Commission's intention to influence
| the outcome of this process, but the Commission considers it essential to
| ensure that European competition law is not violated in the course of the
| standard setting process,â€� he said in an email to El Reg. Â*
|
| In January the EC began formal anti-trust probes against Microsoft in two
| cases where it was alleged that the multinational firm had abused its strong
| market position. As part of the investigation into the first case, the
| Commission said that it would scrutinise OOXML on the grounds that the
| specification doesn't work with those of competitors. Â* Â*
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http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/04...stigation_iso/


Related:

EU Commission Investigating Microsoft's MSOOXML Push

,----[ Quote ]
| I hope they think to investigate the smear campaigns that seem to always
| happen to anyone on the other side from Microsoft. What happened to Peter
| Quinn was by no means unique. Â*
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http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?s...80208151410252


Corrupt countries were more likely to support the OOXML document format

,----[ Quote ]
| Is this just a random coincidence? The median of the CPI index of the above
| mentioned 70 countries is 3.95. Of the most corrupted half (CPI index less
| than 3.95) 23 or 77% voted for approval (approval or approval with comments)
| and 7 or 23% for disapproval; 5 abstained. Of the least corrupted half (CPI
| index more than 3.95) 13 or 54% voted for approval and 11 or 46% voted for
| disapproval; 11 abstained - see the table below. Â* Â* Â*
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http://www.effi.org/blog/kai-2007-09-05.en.html
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