Intel and Microsoft in Europe's Sights
OK, we're not here to argue the EU's contention that Intel and Microsoft are nasty monopolists that must be punished, although we're pretty sure we disagree with the vast majority of it. What we don't understand is why the "competition" folks in Europe have to choose right now to try to cripple a couple of companies that help drive the worldwide economy.
In this economy, is this really the best time to start lightening the wallets of companies that, despite some cuts (at Microsoft, anyway) still employ tens of thousands of people and are (again, in Microsoft's case) actually still hiring? Would forcing these companies to fork a bunch of cash over to the EU really help foster competition and spark the economy? Would it add jobs? We're just not sure how it would, and it seems as though those things should be top priorities right now. (And on top of that, the U.S. is looking at jumping back into the antitrust game in a serious way, too.)
There's a good article about all this in America's best non-Redmond Media Group magazine here.
Posted by Lee Pender on May 12, 2009