€U vs Micro$oft

I noticed yesterday that EU fined Microsoft a decently-sized fine of 899 million EUR. About time!

It sounds like a lot of money, but net income for Microsoft for 2007 alone was $18.52 billion. Since the fine is supposed to cover transgressions committed over the time period 2004-2007 (inclusive), it amounts to a about a week's net income for each of those four years. That would, I suppose, be comparable to the price of a speeding ticket every year for a person with an average income. If you get away with driving significantly above the speed limit for all those four years, the price might very well be worth it....

I'm only bothering posting about this because while the company employs a lot of great people, who are both brilliant and friendly, their corporate attitude has been stifling and pretty problematic in many of the previous jobs I've had. If this is what it takes for them to play nice and civilized, I'm all for it. I'm happy that the EU has the guts to do something tangible, as opposed to what the US has managed in this case (though not for want of trying -- I think there have been a lot of good intentions behind the measures put in place after the anti-trust case overseas, as well.)

It's also very good to notice that additional changes are afoot lately, with the actual opening of various specs. In previous years, there's been quite a lot of promising, but, ultimately, totally worthless press releases about how great and open the future will be with respect to interoperability between Microsoft and the world.