The European Commission has taken a break from trying to re-design Microsoft’s software just long enough to get excited about DVDs. According to this report, “European Commission antitrust officials are probing the licensing strategies of two rival new generation DVD developers, HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc.” Given that competition is fierce among rival [...]

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Last month, the U.S. Treasury Department announced the end of the ancient federal excise tax (FET) on long-distance telephone bills. Consumers should be wary of this seemingly positive development, as cash-strapped bureaucrats now press forward with plans for new technology taxes, threatening innovation.
One of the most ambitious schemes is the Streamlined Sales Tax Project (SSTP), [...]

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As the country gears up for the November elections and online communities start to buzz, it’s instructive to look back at the way image myths were created, even with the openness of the Internet. The Howard Dean campaign is one example.
During the 2004 election, the Dean campaign was credited with using the Internet in [...]

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This week, European Commission (EC) regulators fined Microsoft 280.5 million euros (US$356 million), adding to the 497 million euros ($630.7 million) the company has already been forced to pay.
Noncompliance with a mandate to disclose technology documents is the official reason for the fine, yet the deadline for such compliance has not yet passed. This bizarre [...]

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EU regulators today fined Microsoft 280.5 million Euros ($357 million USD) for supposedly not complying with their demands. Of course, the regulator’s demands are currently in the appeals process and the Commission dragged their heels in making their demands clear, but still, they argue that it’s Microsoft’s fault. That seems pretty unfair, and prompted MS’s [...]

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