Microsoft is to start shipping a cut-down version of Windows in Europe from January, following the failure of its appeal to the European Court of First Instance over penalties imposed by the Commission earlier this year. Microsoft hasn’t run out of appeal routes, but the Court ordered the company to begin carrying out the Commission’s decision immediately.

This, according to Microsoft general counsel Brad Smith, means OEMs will get the version of Windows without Media Player next month, with it being available to other customers from February. It’s not yet clear precisely what Microsoft’s implementation of the decision will entail, but the notion of Windows Media Player being illegal music software in Europe is one to conjure with. Microsoft hasn’t been massively concerned about the Commission’s fine of €497 million, but it sees - understandably - the Commission’s attempt to limit what it can and cannot put into Windows as a direct threat to its business model. As the Commission’s intent is to do something about the operation of that business model, that too is understandable.

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What can I say? Even Billy G loses one, now and then.