It's pretty crazy how governments treat tax payer money,
One of the universal things in every country they treat it like a money tree with no end of funds
Get low create another tax/ fee/..... to make up the difference or simply increase existing taxes,
There should be a bounty on politicians

It's pretty crazy how governments treat tax payer money

That is certainly true. Look at the new Berlin airport example.

Original estimate: 1 Billion Euros and opening in 2011
Todays status: New estimate 6 Billion Euros and opening in 2016 - maybe.

And worst of all - nobody is responsible or feels responsible for the scandal. The govenors of 2 states (Berlin and Brandenburg) were the heads of the operation. But they did nothing wrong. Of course not - they did nothing but cashed a hefty sum of money for their inactivity.

You would be hard pressed to find any government project that went as estimated
If your lucky the project would only double :)
Always more hands out than expected

I try to be realistic.
If all these free non Microsoft programs were so cheep and good to run their wouldn't be a Microsoft.

I know Microsoft has a huge share of the market place. IF one wants to beat Microsoft you must come up with better programs and operating systems. Whether they were free or paid for.

If someone does that in a realistic fashion Microsoft will loose market share.

I don't know whether those places in the E.U. hate Microsoft or they hate Microsoft because they are from the U.S.A.

I my opinion the type of computing we do today would still be in the Stone Ages if it wasn't for Microsoft.

I don't know whether those places in the E.U. hate Microsoft or they hate Microsoft because they are from the U.S.A.

I don't think that this is the case. It is just that the laws in the EU are different than those in the US,

The basic tenor of the US laws is to protect the industry but in the EU it is to protect the consumer. Big difference that may yield different results.

E.g in the Us if you go to court against a big compamy you have to prove that the compamy made a mistake. In the EU the company has to prove that they did not make a mistake.

Take the example of gene modified agriculteral products. In the US they are allowed as long as nobody can prove that they have negative side effects (which may take decades). In the EU the company that wants to market those products has to prove that they have no side effects.

I rather have the EU system because it protects me at least to some extend.

Makes some sense.
Monsanto just spends a lot of money in the right places, (could mean the wrong places) and they get what they want.
You have to be able to out buck them in order to beat them before 2 or more genereation pay the price for gene modified agricultural products.

I guess their is good and bad in both method. The E.U. and the U.S.A. do things different for sure.
Here we have to prove guilty and over the pond they have to prove they are not guilty.

Their has got to be a balance somewhere in between those two but I don't think I will live long enough to see it.