Microsoft has been fined 561 million euros ($731m; £484m) for failing to promote a range of web browsers, rather than just Internet Explorer, to users in the European Union (EU).
It introduced a Browser Choice Screen pop-up in March 2010 as part of a settlement following an earlier EU competition investigation.
But the US company dropped the feature in a Windows 7 update in February 2011.Microsoft said the omission had been the result of a "technical error".
But competition commissioner Joaquin Almunia said the action was unprecedented, adding he wanted to deter any company from the "temptation" of reneging on such a promise.
Not to mention the geld! But, it took 14 months for anyone to notice this horror, and there is no mention of any consumer complaining he was denied Firefox or Google's Chrome.
Though friends of HSIB, Stan Liebowitz and Steve Margolis, warned us where real network effects do lead to lock-in to inferior products;
...for those still seeking harmful lock-in, we offer this. You‘ve been looking in the wrong places. You‘ve been looking at markets. Look elsewhere. Look where competition is not particularly effective, where there is no possibility of bankruptcy, where there are no investors who can pull the plug on losing battles. Look where the rewards for successful innovation are unspectacular or nonexistent. Look where concentrated interests face off against unconcentrated counterparts. Look at government. Cultivate that garden.
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