Linus Torvalds made this statement during a Linux News interview published this week. I agree and the same is true about Apple hatred or for that matter hatred in general. The basis for the interview was to get the father of Linux reaction to Microsoft's donation of 20,000 lines of driver code to the Linux community. Of course this donation was not altruistic, Microsoft sees Linux as pain in their behind, but they saw an opportunity to help their Hyper V product line by providing better virtualization support in Linux. A win-win situation for both environments. However, some in the Linux community see this as nefarious and that Microsoft must have planted some malware in the code. Let's get real, some of Microsoft's largest customers run Linux and they need to support those customers if they want their business. For individuals to really think that the hate must be so strong that it has turned into a disease. Linus is right on the mark.
Does Microsoft’s Turnaround with the EU Portend Apple being forced to open up iTunes
After announcing that it was removing the browser from Windows 7; last week the Wall Street Journal reported that Microsoft has now offered to include an application which would allow users to choose which browser they would like installed. This paragraph caught my eye:
"EU jurisprudence on tying had long revolved around situations like a maker of nail guns requiring that customers use only its nails, or a milk-packaging-machine manufacturer forcing dairies to buy its cartons. The 2004 Media Player case extended that line of thinking to software. And from there, it was a relatively short step to argue that Internet Explorer, like Media Player, was illegally tied to Windows."
With the news of iTunes 8.1.2 breaking connectivity with the Palm Pre and Palm releasing webOS 1.1 to fix the break (precentral.com) the battle could go on endlessly. Given the Wall Street Journal's jurisprudence statement and iTunes having a 70+ percent market share, could the EU force Apple to open up iTunes to all hardware vendors. On the surface it seems they could, all they need is for someone to bring the case to them. Palm seems the likely candidate, company spokesperson Lynn Fox said:
"Palm believes that openness and interoperability offer better experiences for users by allowing them the freedom to use the content they own without interference across devices and services, so on behalf of consumers, we have notified the USB Implementers Forum [USB-IF] of what we believe is improper use of the Vendor ID number by another member."
It seems that Palm may be on its way to file a complaint with the EU, although by impersonating Apple's vendor id they are currently in violation of their agreement with the USB Implementaters Forum.
If a case is ever brought forward it could take years to resolve, but if I were Apple I would tread gingerly.
Posted by sskarlatos on July 27, 2009 at 08:53 AM in Apple, Commentary, Microsoft | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
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