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As described in my first post on February 1, my day job involves conducting research into leading IT suppliers' SEC and similar documentation to assist investors. As part of that I have written extensively about the process Microsoft is going through with the European Union (EU) vis a vis restraint of trade and other issues similar to its battles in the U.S. with the Department of Justice.

In particular, since mid 2006 Microsoft is liable for (and is paying) millions of dollars per day in fines for failing to adequately make public and competitively price its client operating software protocols. That kind of money means this is primarily an investment issue, of course, which is why I talk about it my investment-related blogging. But the latest twist, announced March 1, has an OSS subtext so you might want to look over at my opinion at seekingalpha

The EU is not just trying to fund its bloated socialistic bureacracy with these fines. The real hidden agenda, driven by an old DEC Netherlands employee and an ex-Bull security specialist, is to force Microsoft to make its protocols open source. They do this by declaring the protocols of no value in the market, and thereby saying 'therefore the protocols should be free.' Only EU logicians would work so hard to make something they say is of no value available in the market. This is the most extreme example of government intervention against enterprise/consumer open choice and meddling with free markets and intellectual property that I could imagine. And I worked for Bull in France during Plan Calcul so I know government meddling.

Posted by dennisb in OSS Business Issue |Digg This|Add to del.icio.us

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