Flameduck,
Surely there are other OS's available if you want to buy them, one of them is the main subject of this thread and another, I believe you may already heard of it called, "Linux" and that's before we get to "obscure" OS's like Solaris. Microsoft might hold a dominante position but it is not a monopoly.
The only law that will matter at all in this case will be US law as both companies are operating in the US.
Darkheart
They can hold the dominant position in the operating system market. Nothing wrong with that. Surely there are other OS's available if you want to buy them, one of them is the main subject of this thread and another, I believe you may already heard of it called, "Linux" and that's before we get to "obscure" OS's like Solaris. Microsoft might hold a dominante position but it is not a monopoly.
The only law that will matter at all in this case will be US law as both companies are operating in the US.
Darkheart
The OPERATING SYSTEM which by definition is simply a platform with which programs talk to the bios and the hardware with basic tools for administration and configuration.
It does NOT by definition include media players, browsers, speech recog, cd burners, A/V codecs, video editors, email clients, zip programs, paint programs or any other APPLICATIONS which because bundled satisfies most peoples need and so blocks competition. Ironically, this doesnt seem to apply to apple as they are not the dominant ones, but it should IMO.
This practise has put numerous companies (who actually did "their thing" better) out of business. If they bundled other companies software or supplied their own a downloadable optional extra then that would be a little more acceptable, but to bundle their own is plain market abuse and plain antitrust. Im not even going to go in to their horrible abuse of the patent system.
Imagine a company being virtually the only ones selling houses but they bundle it with furniture, a car with a tv, a fridge, a microwave, a set of tools, a bicycle, a caravan, a set of spare tires and a new wardrobe full of clothes, all made by same people. Would that be fair??
And no its not just US law that applies. They are an international entity and have to abide by any countries laws in which they operate or suffer consequences.