7 wrote:
<snip for brevity>
Banning is not an option even under competition law.
Fining for creating and perpetuating a market distortion is punishable.
I'm sure micoshaft has had plenty of legal advise of the possibilities
of eventually being found guilty of competition law.
They are still however committed to an executive decision to
to risk overcharging customers in order to make a quick buck
and knowing punishment is far away.
<snip>
Thing is, Microsoft distribute the same master across the planet. Proof
of that, at least here in the UK, is that when you install XP you are
faced with the usual locale/timezone/key layout stuff - this despite the
claim from Microsoft that they distribute locale-customised versions of
Windows. If this were the case, why do I have to configure from the
*default* USE/KBENUS/CST settings to UKE/KBENUK/GMT? The claim, IMO, is
an attempt to justify the pricing of XP in the UK (£65 for XP Home OEM,
to £135 for XP Pro retail) which, Pound for Dollar, is the *same* as
pricing in USD ($65-$135) for *the same thing*. This cannot be justified.
OK, so Linux has the same locale problem. HOWEVER - When I installed
SuSE, I only had to tell it once where I was - the keyboard settings and
timezone were automatically adjusted. But at least Linux doesn't have
this crap with the pricing structure. So I don't mind it. Microsoft just
lie to try and justify their behaviour in this respect towards users in
the UK and Europe.
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