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Re: [school-discuss] Linux in education report #96 for May 19



On Mon, 2003-05-19 at 20:01, Doug Loss wrote:
> It's here:
> 
> http://www.seul.org/edu/report96.html
> 
> "Ian Lynch told us about a serious European complaint against Microsoft. 
>   Because of the nature of the complaint, we're printing it here in total:
> 
> "In December I filed a complaint to the UK Office of Fair Trading with
> regard to Microsoft Schools Agreement being anti-competitive because it
> requires the payment of licences to MS for machines that do not run any
> of their software. I think most people would agree that an effect of
> this, intentional or not, is to block competition by ensuring revenue
> for MS from rival installations. There was an article in the Register
> and the Times on this and I am talking to Computer Weekly about it
> tomorrow. The OFT have now decided there are reasonable grounds for a
> full investigation so collecting evidence is important..."

Since UK law is based on EU law, anyone in any EU member nation should
check their laws on fair trading and the requirements of MSSA in
relation to that law. If you believe it is unlawful complain because its
unlikely that anyone will do anything about it unless there is a
complaint. Also check the details of the law. If you run a business or
know of a business that is disadvantaged by a monopoly situation a
complaint by that business is likely to be more effective than just a
general complaint from an individual. If anyone wants any specific help
just E-mail me. I'm not a lawyer but I have looked into this in a bit of
detail.

-- 
ian <ian.lynch2@ntlworld.com>