NYT: Europeans Doubt Microsoft Is Obeying Antitrust Order

[DeepModem Mom]

Europeans Doubt Microsoft Is Obeying Antitrust Order
By PAUL MELLER

Published: March 18, 2005


BRUSSELS, March 17 - The European Commission has "strong doubts" that Microsoft is obeying an order issued a year ago in a landmark antitrust ruling against the company, a commission spokesman, Jonathan Todd, said Thursday.

It plans to discuss its concerns with Microsoft, and could impose fines up to 5 percent of daily worldwide sales until it decides that the company is complying.

In the case, the largest antitrust action ever brought in Europe, the commission found that Microsoft broke European Union law by using a "near monopoly" in its Windows operating system to squeeze out rivals in other kinds of software.

The commission, the executive arm of the European Union, ordered Microsoft to disclose information about Windows to rival software makers and let them design products that work as easily with Windows as Microsoft's own server software does.

Mr. Todd said that despite statements from Microsoft that it was committed to complying with the antitrust ruling, the commission suspected that it was still discriminating against open-source software companies by denying them access to the Windows code. Companies that buy the rights to Windows code "have to take it all in one license," he said, "and so pay for things they don't need."...


http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/18/technology/18soft.html