I must confess, that I have become somewhat sceptical of these suits against M$. Why? Every so often there is another suit which dictates to M$ what needs to be enacted, never have I seen any follow-on. In any case, since M$ is nearly as rich as the US is (pun intended of course), any libel brought against them, is merely brought to appeal again.

It´s not just against the company itslef that the courts should be focusing on, but it´s other instruments, such as DMCA and TCPA. These things, good or bad, at the end of the day merely serve to strengthen M$´s monopolistic position.

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I must confess, that I have become somewhat sceptical of these suits against M$. Why? Every so often there is another suit which dictates to M$ what needs to be enacted, never have I seen any follow-on. In any case, since M$ is nearly as rich as the US is (pun intended of course), any libel brought against them, is merely brought to appeal again.

I agree with you and secondly if there was a follow on M$ will probably win as allways!!!

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The only difference is this time it is not a US brought suit against them As such, the courts are not "in the pockets" of Microsoft as some may like to indicate the US legal system was.

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I think that in the end, it will be Microsoft hurting Microsoft.

As time goes on, every patch and new release for thier OS takes away from the person that likes to go deep into the workings of the OS.

The freedom that computer users have always enjoyed in owning a computer is surely being taken away.
Now with the release of longhorn (I believe that's the correct name), even more is being taken away.

I am glad to see that Microsoft is getting worse and worse about having to register thier OS and such.
Now they are going to be deciding what hardware you will use and not use.

This is a good thing as far as I see, because a lot of people will migrate away from Microsoft in favor of an OS that will let the user have the freedom that he or she should have.

It's to the point now where you actually are renting Windows XP.
You pay to use it until you've installed it a few times, or installed various devices a few times, then you will have to purchase a new serial number in order to continue to use it.

"Good Job" I say.

They will bring down thier own selves, and that's alright with me.

and by the way...

That's one of the very reasons that many, many people are making the switch to Linux.

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That's one of the very reasons that many, many people are making the switch to Linux

I agree with your statement here, but not with regards to Australia unfortunately...

@_steve_
Although it may seem that because M$ is not being ¨courted¨ in the US this time round. We shouldn´t forget that they can still wield alot of power away from their shores. For example, a court ruling here in Australia stipulated that owners of the consoles X-Box and PS-X 1 & 2, can indeed chip their units for backup purposes (and also because they are units bought, not rented). This caused a major uproar with Sony and M$ threatening to withdraw sales and support of the consoles. I think they are both in the midst of launching seperate counter-appeals, so the whole thing is still in the balance.

However I hope that YOU are right .

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@ _steve_

I hope you are right but I won't hold my breath.

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@Mountain_Myst:

I couldn't agree more. In the long run, Microsoft are only shooting themselves in the foot.

But you also have to consider businesses and consumers alike have the power to stop them. It basically goes like this:

MS: We have this fabby new great super OS way better than that last one we gave you - you have to upgrade to it.

ALL: Why?

MS: We'll because it is safer, faster, more secure, prettier and gives you more options than ever before.

All: really, you mean like the last ones you fobbed off onto us, that weren't.

MS: No this time we mean it, and besides, we are stopping support for all other versions of our hopeless OSs.

All: Fine, I'll just keep this for now then, and will look for a better replacement in the meantime. Later MS.

MS: Bugger.

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Waiting for the next 'last' chance from the EU...

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