Windows 7 and Browser Choice in Europe

Dave Heiner, Vice President and Deputy General Counsel of Microsoft has posted a message on Windows 7 and Browser Choice in Europe.

I have a feeling that this is going to go over like a lead balloon at the EU Competition Bureau.

It looks great the way he talks about it, but what he’s actually saying is:

1) We won’t install other browsers on Windows.

2) We will include IE

3) Rather than doing what you asked (the Competition Bureau) what we are going to do is to make the user who buys the computer start up Internet Exploder. When they start up Internet Exploder, we will redirect them to a page that we designed, that will mention other browsers, and we’ll design it so that they will just use Internet Exploder because it’s too much work to install anything else. Oh, and we are going to change the release version of Windows so that Firefox, Chrome, and Opera will run like molasses in January.

Yeah, I’m cynical.

EU Finds Anti-Competitive Abuse Of Pharmaceutical Patents, Launches Antitrust Action

I just found out that IPWatch.ORG has an article about a new EU investigation. To quote:

Pharmaceutical companies are manipulating the intellectual property rights system and are “actively trying to delay the entry of generic medicines onto their markets,” a top EU official said of an EU inquiry into the pharmaceutical sector released Wednesday. As a result, there has been a decline in the number of innovative medicines getting to the market, it says.

Those of you who know me, know that I believe that patents are a drag on the economy, and that they make the First World countries less efficient than they could be. Those companies who claim to need patent protection for their innovations are in effect admitting that they are inefficient, and incapable of operating in a 21st century environment.

If they aren’t capable of operating, they should be shut down. That’s what bankruptcy law is for.

Oh, and they are also admitting that their management is incompetent. Think of it as Evolution in Action.