] The decision draws on memos, testimony, U.S. court ] records and much more. It finds Microsoft can "behave to ] a very large extent independently of its competitors, its ] customers and ultimately of consumers." ] ] To back that up, the decision quotes from an internal ] memo sent to Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates on February ] 21, 1997 by C general manager Aaron Contorer, a ] software expert. ] ] "There is a huge switching cost to using a different ] operating system," he wrote Gates. ] ] "It is this switching cost that has given customers the ] patience to stick with Windows through all our mistakes, ] our buggy drivers, our high TCO, our lack of a sexy ] version at times... ] ] "It would be so much work to move over that they hope we ] just improve Windows rather than force them to move," he ] said. [ From the reuters summary of the EU decision. IP law issues and questions of actual monopolism aside, this sort of attitude is reason enough to never buy from MS, ever. -k] |