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Microsoft Faces Korean Deadline

Posted by Zonk on Sat Feb 25, 2006 07:22 AM
from the play-nice-with-the-neighbors dept.
Microsoft The Courts
nmccart wrote to mention an article on the Yahoo! news service stating that South Korea has leveled a deadline at Microsoft. The deadline is the newest addition to that country's anti-trust ruling against the OS maker."South Korea's antitrust regulator has given Microsoft Corp. the deadline of Aug. 24 to comply with a landmark ruling ordering the world's largest software maker to unbundle some of its products from its Windows computer operating system and pay fines. On Friday afternoon, the Fair Trade Commission said it has sent documents on the punitive sanctions to Microsoft, which was ruled last December to have violated the nation's fair trade laws by tieing its instant messenger, audio, and video software to Windows. The commission also confirmed its order that Microsoft pay 32.4 billion won (US$33.5 million) in the December ruling on the U.S. software giant's unfair business practices."

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[+] Politics: Microsoft To Fight Korean Verdict 139 comments
DocHart wrote to mention a BBC article covering Microsoft's appeal against their recent Korean ruling. From the article: "The KFTC continued to investigate Microsoft's practices, despite the firm paying Daum $30m in November to end their dispute. The ruling of the KFTC echoes a similar 2004 judgement by the European Commission, which also found that Microsoft was abusing its market domination. Microsoft's rivals have since accused the firm of dragging its feet over unbundling its software in Europe, something Microsoft denies. "
[+] Microsoft Loses South Korea Patent Ruling 68 comments
mikesd81 writes "Ars Technica is carrying an article discussing Microsoft's denial for an appeal in a South Korean patent infringement case. The case focused on the automatic translation between English and Korean in Microsoft Office and was brought against the company in 2000. The Supreme Court of South Korea ruled that the patents are effective for technologies switching the input mode between Korean and English." From the article: "Technology firm P&IB, which sued Microsoft on behalf of Professor Lee, wants Microsoft to ante up to the tune of W70 billion ($75 million) in a separate lawsuit covering damages. 'Microsoft adapted our technologies to its Office package without dealing with Prof. Lee and it claimed the patents were not effective in the court,' P&IB President Kim Kil-hae told The Korea Times."
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  • Let's get it out of the way... (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    In South Korea, only old people use Windows.
  • I get what some people are saying about out-of-the-box functionality, it does seem strange to expect an OS not to ship with default apps to provide standard functionality for e.g. media playing and IM. Are they going to apply the same principles to Mas OS
    • Why not make sure that these bundled apps are not a part of the vendor lock-in? A good media player included with the OS? Sure, but make the video/audio formats open.
    • The problem is two-fold: they hide the cost of those add-on packages in the cost of the OS, while other software authors have to be added on on top of the OS. We saw similar problems with Netscape's webservers and IIS in the NT 4.0 workstation vs. server
    • The rules are different when you're a convicted monopolist who has already got into trouble for using its desktop monopoly to move into other areas. If MS had only 20% of the market and played reasonably nicely with everyone else this wouldn't be a story n

  • Ridiculous (Score:2, Insightful)

    by ton1c (924673)
    I'm sorry but i think we are forgetting a few key things here.

    Microsoft is the maker of the software, they made it the way they wanted, and they allowed other companies to build software for it.

    Why then should they be forced to not bundle their own softwar
    • I'm sorry, but I think *you're* forgetting a few things.

      They can be forced to not bundle certain items together *in S. Korea* because of a little ol' thing called "sovereignty". Despite the best efforts of transnational corporations, national government

    • You must either be very young or a troll. MS used unfair business practices to establish and expand its monopoly. In essence, it squashed all competition through exclusive business deals and then raised its prices to exploit the cornered market. You sho
    • The rules are different for monopolies - 'nuff zed.

  • MS to make another "Special" version of Windows... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by linebackn (131821) on Saturday February 25 2006, @08:30AM (#14799844)
    And also in the news, Microsoft is to create another "special" version of Windows to address South Korean antitrust concerns. This "special" version will be given a lobotomy and ride the short bus to school much like the European "Windows N" AKA "Windows Reduced Media Edition".

    Other third party applications include very advanced technology called an "uninstaller" and have done so for years. This technology is so advanced that Microsoft as of yet is completely unable to replicate it or integrate it in to their Windows OS.

    Uninstaller technology would give users and OEMs a choice of which software applications are installed with Windows. When asked to comment head of Microsoft marketing MS. Bob stated "We firmly believe that users do not need this functionality, any kind of choice is too complicated. Everyone should just use the software we provide them and depend on us." The interview was interruped by the defening sound of a compeditor getting crushed.

  • Microsoft should nail this one... (Score:3, Funny)

    by creimer (824291) on Saturday February 25 2006, @09:00AM (#14799931) Homepage Journal
    All Microsoft has to do to avoid antitrust in Korea is to include a Starcraft-clone with every copy of Windows.

  • milking MS for all it's worth? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by krunk4ever (856261) on Saturday February 25 2006, @09:03AM (#14799945) Homepage
    Is it just me or does anyone else feel all these "governments" view Microsoft as a cash cow and are trying to milk it for all it's worth.

    Honestly, the definition needs to be redifined. What Linux, Apple and Microsoft is selling (or giving away for free) is not just an OS, but a complete package. Would anyone even bother buying an OS that doesn't come with a media player, a internet browser, or internet messenger in nowadays?

    I understand that because of Microsoft's monopoly, it's gives then an unfair advantage of deploying any software they want, but browser, IM, media player are such core software in today's society, I dare you find a modern OS that doesn't have all of them in it. It's not like they're PREVENTING you from installing another software to replace it. By restricting one company from putting these software in, but allowing everyone else to do it, in my opinion, is what's unfair. If they forced every OS to not include a browser, media player, and IM client, I can be more content with that decision.

    Just my rant and 2 cents.
    • Thats exactly right. Nobody disagrees that MS is a monopoly. But govts have to look at today's market and think can MS be competitive without bundling some of these goodies in their OS. Unbundling different items from OS do not offer level playing field. W
    • What the EU and South Korea are worried about is the fact that OEMs have no choice but to bundle IE, MSN Messenger, Windows Media Player etc with their computers which means that competitors in this area cannot compete on a level playing field by having th
    • Oh you mean I could just replace Internet Explorer with anything I want right? I could just go to windows updates then with this new browser and download my updates right? I could install it without having some idiotic messenger icon bugging me every five
      • First of all, you CAN remove messenger and wmp completely from your system (Add/Remove Programs -> Windows Components). The only item in question you can't remove is Internet Explorer. But imagine the fact that you can indeed uninstall IE (if it wasn't

    • Well, contrary to what you say, it seems that governments are getting tired of MS seeing their citzens as cash cows. And if they need to destroy MS to guarantee the right of people to not be stolen, then, will make it so.

      There are still some governemnts o

    • Every Linux distribution I know of ships with the ability to install any of several different media players, or office suites. Linux has inherent choice built in.
      • Every Linux distribution I know of ships with the ability to install any of several different media players, or office suites. Linux has inherent choice built in.

        And yet, most Linux distributions do ship/install with certain apps "bundled." This is esp

        • No; where do people get this ridiculous stuff? MS and Windows is singled out because MS is *violating law*. Apple, Red Hat, Ubuntu, etc, are *not violating law*. There is no double standard, and there is no government conspiracy against MS or Windows.

        • I think it's a double-standard. South Korea and the EU are trying to cripple Windows because they don't want Windows to be able to compete on a level playing field.
          Anti-trust regulations exist because a monopoly situation is not anywhere near a level pl
    • No, these countries are just taking back some of the money that MS stole from their citizens through unfair business practices and inflated prices.
    • Is it just me or does anyone else feel all these "governments" view Microsoft as a cash cow and are trying to milk it for all it's worth.

      Forget it. Microsoft has been in court for monopolistic business practices for as long as I can remember. They wrote
      • I agree they should not be allowed to prevent bundling of alternative software or give incentive to OEMs for not installing competing software. In fact I find the whole concept where Intel is allowed to give discounts to Dell for not selling systems with A
        • Why not fine both the OEM and Microsoft

          Why would you fine the OEM for being a victim of Microsoft's abuse of monopoly power?

          And as for merely permitting the installation of other software, that is certainly an improvement but it is hardly a useful remedy.

          M
  • Thirty-five million dollars, eh? Wow, what a horrendous penalty. That'll throw the fear of God into Gates and Ballmer for sure. No doubt about it, their days are numbered.

    • Re:South Korea vs EU? (Score:2, Troll)

      by pla (258480)
      I wonder if South Korea will be as soft and in-effectual as the EU. Me thinks not.

      I wonder if Microsoft considers South Korea a "real" country, or just some some pathetic 2nd-world country, only on the map because of the antics of its neighbors to the n

      • Re:South Korea vs EU? (Score:3, Insightful)

        by djupedal (584558)
        It would hurt Microsoft a lot to pull out of the EU. Pulling out of South Korea, though? Somehow that doesn't strike me as one of their cash-cow sales regions.

        I'll bite...you see, with the US & China tied as #1 for most internet users, South Korea c

        • Re:South Korea vs EU? (Score:2, Insightful)

          by cosminn (889926)
          South Korea comes in right behind them. #4 is so far below, there isn't much reason to even consider it.

          Yes, but out of all the people in SK using MS, how many of them have _legal_ installations of their software?

          While China and other Asian countries are
          • Hows that any different to the US, or Europe?

            Koreas not some backwoods little peasant country. Its as advanced as Japan and the USA and has a fairly decent western standard living style.

            4th highest GDP. Mull it over man.

            Regardless, when a country fines a c
        • I'll bite...you see, with the US & China tied as #1 for most internet users

          Which means... What, exactly?

          You can get on the internet without Windows - In fact, South Korea REQUIRES government computers to run open source software (ie, Linux), with

          • You can get on the internet without Windows - In fact, South Korea REQUIRES government computers to run open source software (ie, Linux), with the business and academic communities resultingly all-but-forced to do the same if they want to get anything done

    • Re:this is getting ridiculous (Score:4, Insightful)

      by greginnj (891863) on Saturday February 25 2006, @08:13AM (#14799796) Homepage Journal
      Exactly, which is why Dell, HP, Lenovo, or whoever should be able to choose which browser, IM player, and media player they install on the complete systems they sell, and not be forced by the OS/kernel maker to include one and pay a penalty even if they don't want it.

      Microsoft doesn't sell computers, it sells operating systems and application software. Computer makers should be able to choose which components, if any, they want to buy from Microsoft.
      [ Parent ]
      • Actually, they can, they may not be able to strip every part of the Microsoft product from the OS, but they are perfectly able to install, and make default any of those applications. You can also turn off completely the competing Microsoft program by unsel
        • Developers have come to rely on these built in components

          You have just defined Microsoft's illegal tactic for abusing it's monopoly in one area to impose a monoploy in these other areas and prohibiting anyone else from competing. Software from various othe
      • not be forced by the OS/kernel maker to include one and pay a penalty even if they don't want it

        I haven't RTFA, but how is MS penalising computer makers for including 3rd party IM programs, media players, etc? Only this month I set up a laptop (Sony I

        • I haven't RTFA, but how is MS penalising computer makers for including 3rd party IM programs, media players, etc?
          Here ya go, the juicy details [com.com] of Real's suit from 2003. From this link:

          Other charges allege that Microsoft used contractual restrict
          • Microsoft used contractual restrictions and financial incentives to "force PC makers to accept Windows PC operating systems with the bundled Windows Media Player and to restrict the ability of PC makers to preinstall or promote competing digital media play
        • Right, because if there's one thing that MS does really well, is build good hardware [engadget.com]. If they want to do that, fine, that's called a free market.

          Your first sentence describes what they're already doing, and is what all the bundling lawsuits are about.

        • I'm not a buisness expert, but can't you uninstall anything the hell you want from windows ('cept IE, admittedly) and make an image from that disk, and image it to 50,000+ PC's you sell? Also, can you put firefox on that 1st pc, and make it the default be

    • Did you know that on OSX if you don't like Safari you can uninstall it? And with virtually all Linux distributions you can uninstall the included media player, chat client and browser if you want. Microsft has fixed their OS so that these programs can't be

      • Did you know that on OSX if you don't like Safari you can uninstall it?

        Yes, but it doesn't uninstall WebKit, does it? Likewise, you can uninstall IE through "Add/Remove Windows Components," or by ACL, but people still bitch because it leaves the trident

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