Microsoft's Fear is Apple's Gain: The MPEG-4 Part 10 Revolution
The EU AntiTrust Decision to throw out Microsoft's appeal puts alot of things in perspective. Just a little more evidence to back up many of my assertions about MSFT.
Analysis
Boo-Hoo Microsoft
There's been a lot of news of late concerning Microsoft, be it warning Asian Governments or being in denial when a European Union judge this past week denied Microsoft Corp. a reprieve from the antitrust penalties imposed by the European Commission in March—a serious blow to Microsoft's case. Microsoft said it would begin complying with the order immediately.
In a 91-page decision issued on Wednesday morning, Judge Bo Vesterdorf, the president of the EU's Court of First Instance (CFI), said Microsoft had failed to prove its case. "The application must therefore be dismissed in its entirety," he wrote.
Microsoft stated that they hoped the court's decision would help to reopen settlement negotiations with the Commission. The company stated it believes the remedies will "harm many users of the Windows operating system and the thousands of companies across Europe who have built their businesses on the Windows platform," but said it will comply with the court order.
You must agree that Microsoft's delirium is, at the very least, consistent with their famous line of, "will harm many users of the Windows operating system". Hmm, what do they feed their staff in Redmond? While their case with the EU is really far from over, I thought it would be appropriate to begin this report with a presentation of just one of perhaps many next generation Media Players that Microsoft is so afraid of. We always hear about QuickTime and RealPlayer being the beneficiary of the EU's ruling but there are others on the way in 2005. Grant you the following is not a "freebie player" but it's the trend that Redmond really fears: Users having choice of a media player and the MPEG-4 standard gaining ground!
Introducing the KDDI MPEG Intelli Player
Universal MPEG-1/MPEG2 (SDTV/HDTV) MPEG-4/HDV/H.264 with AAC+Software Player