Three figures as a summary:

– fine: $613 million

– fine in % of Microsoft’s revenues (2002-03): 2%

– available cash by MS: $52 billion (!!)

So, I think that the problem for MS is not really the money (no charity subscription needed ;-), but more a strategic one. Difficult to accept that somebody else can impose which components can be integrated in the Operating System, and which cannot be. Media Player, in this field, could be just the first example of a long list of imposed changes…. Is this change interesting for us, for the end-consumers? Not really sure…

Who really likes/wants to play video or listen to music with a RealPlayer?? Real product challengers can win market shares (eg. Winamp) because they are really good products for the consumers.