I see that my least favourite Euros are at it again. Unable to actually design/build/create anything the world wants, they decide to regulate a way to take aim at Apple’s world-beating i-pod design and i-tunes service and change it so that they get it cheaper than everyone else. Merde! If I were Apple, I’d want to withdraw from le market and tell them the IP is nano their bizness!
This from a nation so in love with leisure time that the latest car-burners du jour are protesting because the government is considering new legislation that would allow - gasp - employers the right to expect….. work! Otherwise known as the end 35 hour week. Pitiful. I note with some amusement that in the linked article it states that "the changes would not affect the public sector, which employs nearly a quarter of all French workers." (bold is mine) - 25% of the workforce works for the government??? Now that’s worth a riot!
French unemployment is at 10% - firms are tied by huge amounts of red-tape for hiring, and firing workers is almost impossible. So firms don’t hire, no jobs are created and the economy nose-dives. What fun.
I am thinking that maybe they can listen to endless re-runs of Charles Aznovoice in an i-free Republic. Vive la revolution!
UPDATE: Here’s a response from Apple.
