European Commission finds Microsoft guilty, imposes conduct remedies and a fine

The European Commission has concluded, after a five-year investigation, that Microsoft Corporation broke European Union competition law by leveraging its near monopoly in the market for PC operating systems onto the markets for work group server operating systems and for media players.

Fine of € 497.2 million. Jupiter Research has a first take on the decision. Microsoft must provide a version of Windows XP without Windows Media Player. They must also provide interface documentation for server interfaces.

What does this mean for Longhorn? Pushed back another year?

Corporate Blogger Dinner

Tomorrow night, Wednesday, at 7 P.M. is the Corporate Blogger’s Dinner at Venture Frogs in San Francisco.

I view corporate blogging as a marketing tool to a user base in search of something more trustworthy than a PR spin. Mark Cuban’s blog is corporate blogging. Why? It makes you more interested in the Mavericks. You fee involved, part of the action. Even if you have never been to a NBA game. How do you put a face and a name to a product people love or will grow to love? Weblogs help establish a community around your product(s) or company and can be an engaging customer loyalty tool.

Corporate blogging may already exist within your company, even if you are not aware. Someone at your company might be blogging. It might be a positive and/or negative view about your company and its products. How do you nurture the right type of personal publishing culture? What company topics are off limits to inside bloggers, and what would you like the world to know more about?

We will discuss these issues and many more while surrounded by Asian fusion and free wireless Internet access.

Eric Schimdt talks about Orkut beta

Eric Schimdt talked about Google’s social networking service, Orkut, at PC Forum today. News.com covers the speech. He noted that most products at Google stay in beta for about a year. Google hopes to help provide better searches for people through social networking software. “We believe that these social networks will have a tremendous amount of information.” Three engineers are currently working on the service.

Technorati redesign

Technorati is sporting a new look this morning. Dave Sifry mentions the new features of Technorati in his weblog. Three free email or RSS watchlists for members. The developer tab is nice. “Site reliability and faster response time are our top priorities. We are working hard to improve the user experience.” Good. I want to build some nice things using the API, if only the backend was more reliable. It would nice to mention working hard to improve developer experience as well, since it will ultimately lead to new users.

NY Times: Concerns Raised Over Consultants to Pension Funds

Mary Williams Walsh wrote a long article in today’s New York Times about the relationship between money managers, plan sponsors, and the consulting firms who represent both.

Pension consultants sort money managers into asset classes and build databases using their own criteria to help trustees compare and select managers. Some consultants also sell their databases and tracking software to money managers and even sell advice on how to achieve higher rankings.

True. Like an Internet search engine, products must be sorted into asset classes and sub-classes. Callan sells its database and tracking software in the form of PEP. Wilshire has Compass.

Many consultants hold educational conferences for pension trustees. The trustees pay a modest admission fee or none at all; the costs are borne by money managers, who pay tens of thousands of dollars for the chance to attend and meet the trustees.

Callan hosts an annual conference at Pebble Beach. You tend to get higher quality attendees when you hold a conference at one of the top golf resorts in the country instead of a hotel in downtown San Francisco. Callan used to hold these events as educational forums for its employees. Now few employees are allowed to attend.

I am currently employed by Callan Associates, one of the companies under investigation by the SEC.

First ever used MSN Direct (SPOT) watch sale

I may become the first person ever to sell his used MSN Direct watch when my eBay auction closes next Friday, March 26. Too bad my yearly subscription cannot be transferred to the new buyer. The watch is too big and I simply do not get enough utility from its added functions to justify the extra weight on my wrist. My next phone will most likely have the features included in this watch, such as the ability to receive instant messages, and view my calendar. I can always connect to the Internet using my phone to pull down the latest news, traffic, or stocks, even though it is not already waiting for me at a glance.