You’re not my friend anymore. I’m taking my toys back!

Ah, the sound of 5 year olds arguing in the playground. It bring back such fond memories.

Alas, my hearties (I’m warming up for International Talk Like A Pirate Day), this is no child’s tantrum. The world’s “near monopolist” in software, Microsoft, has told the European Commissioner that unless it “make[s] their regulatory path clearer, more consistent and transparent”, they will not be shipping Vista to Europe.

Microsoft are seeking approval for Vista from the commission before it releases the software rather than after the fact. Jonathan Todd, the European Commission spokesman on competition, points out that “[t]he responsibility for ensuring that Vista complies fully with EU competition rules … lies not with the commission but with Microsoft.”

I have to say I’m not totally surprised that Microsoft will act this childishly, but it’s rather amusing nonetheless. Unfortunately, Microsoft didn’t follow through on similar threats to Korea, so it seems that Europe will be burdened with this operating system anyway.

From InternetNews via Digg.

3 Responses to “You’re not my friend anymore. I’m taking my toys back!”


  1. 1 Ubermonkey

    Not shipping Vista to Europe? Isn’t that a good thing? It’s (MS) like saying I don’t like you, so I am going to hurt my self… Oh those kids.

  2. 2 Ben Balbo

    I agree. That’s why I find it unfortunate that they didn’t follow through with Korea; they’re also unlikely to follow through with Europe, which is a shame…

    At leat real kids are stubborn and won’t share their toys again even if they were in the wrong :-)

  3. 3 Ubermonkey

    Yeah, pitty…

Leave a Reply