Why does Microsoft care what Europe says?

I read today that Microsoft was fined a bunch of money by the EU. Well, since Microsoft is an American company, how can the EU tell them what to do. I say Microsoft should just say "Get Bent" and "How do you like me now". Sure, they got 14.7 billion profit from Europe. Microsoft has so much money, they should just take their products out of Europe and let the geniuses of Europe figure out what a computer is. If it wasn't for Al Gore, they probably wouldn't even have the internet. We gave Europe enough with the Marshall Plan. I think they should just let American companies do whatever they like just like America does.

Why does Microsoft care what Europe says?
Any company operating in a foreign country, must follow the laws in that country.





For example, if you drive in England, you have to drive on the left side of the street instead of the right.





Do you think that you can break that law just because you are an American, and not get a ticket there?
Reply:American lets american companies do whatever they like? Do we let european companies do whatever they like?





Microsoft may have its headquarters in Washington somewhere, but anything that size is a completely international corporation. It is an international world. Windows and Microsoft applications are on computers all over the world. Its a global empire, not a single factory.


I dont think the guys that run Microsoft would say that they "has so much money" they wont miss it. If Microsoft listened you you- they'd probably have to fire thousands of people and their stock would drop, causing turmoil in the stock market.





There has got to be a way for them to stay in Europe without releasing their source code.
Reply:I agree with you. Is it worth 650 million dollars to keep doing business in Europe? Maybe. but the real dinger is the EU saying the MS must release it's source code. I don't see that happening under any circumstances. How anyone can still in this day and age say that Microsoft is a monopoly is beyond me. They are losing ground big time in the last 2 years to the dozens of different linux distros out there, plus the fact that Mac is making a comeback in a big way. Anyone that wants to have a microsoft-free PC can, very easily. I tried an ubuntu install last month and was very impressed with how well my computer functioned.


My guess is Microsoft will pull out of Europe. I don't see them releasing their source code. That will ruin them. This is going to be a big gainer for companies distributing linux, because people in Europe will have to run something on their pc's.

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