French politicians want to tax tablets for not running Windows

[Amedee Van Gasse]

On Mon, January 3, 2011 12:58, Christopher Chan wrote:
> On Monday, January 03, 2011 03:02 PM, Basil Chupin wrote:
>>   On 03/01/2011 17:20, Nathan Bahn wrote:
>>> On Mon, Jan 3, 2011 at 1:07 AM, Basil Chupin <blchupin at iinet.net.au
>>> <mailto:blchupin at iinet.net.au>> wrote:
>>>
>>>     *THE GLORIOUS FRENCH REPUBLIC* seems set to kowtow to Microsoft
>>>     and levy a tax on every tablet in the land that doesn't run the
>>>     Windows operating system.
>>>
>>>     For a while now France has taxed MP3 players after surrendering to
>>>     demands from the movie and film cartels that it make all of its
>>>     citizens pay for those few who download media content.
>>>
>>>     Now the French politicians have worked out that they can get even
>>>     more dosh if they extend the tax to include tablets. After all,
>>>     most of them are just big phones and MP3 players, they think.
>>>
>>>     However since the legislation does not cover computers they have
>>>     to define what it is that makes a computer different from the
>>>     devices they want to tax.
>>>
>>>     According to the French magazine Numerama
>>>     <http://translate.google.com/translate?js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&sl=auto&tl=en&u=http://www.numerama.com/magazine/17691-taxe-copie-privee-sur-tablettes-archos-pourrait-attaquer-au-conseil-d-etat.html>
>>>     they have decided that a device is only a computer when it runs
>>>     Microsoft Windows. If it runs Linux or a Mac OS then it must be
>>>     just an MP3 player that's being operated by someone who is a
>>>     'pirate' and therefore needs to be taxed.
>>>
>>>     http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/1934443/french-politicians-tax-tablets-running-windows

If you would have read the original article in French, then you would have
known that tablets with Windows Mobile 7 *will* be taxed, but those with
Windows 7 won't. Why? Because Windows Mobile 7 is an operating system
designed for mobile devices.

-- 
Amedee