European Union Not Swayed By Microsoft Arguments
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The 3 year old ruling of the European Court of First Instance decided that the original ruling was correct, and Microsoft had abused its dominant position in the market.
The European court system was never as lenient with Microsoft as the courts in the United States have been. Beginning with a decision in 1998 a court saw the unenviable position Sun was in, trying to work effectively in a mixed environment, when Microsoft was so closed about the workings of its operating systems.
Microsoft had been complying with the 2004 ruling, and had unbundled the Media Player from Windows XP, giving a different edition of Windows, called Windows XP N. The latest ruling is worrisome to Microsoft not just because of the monetary damages it must pay, but also because the effects of this ruling means that the likelihood of change be necessary to the new server operating systems it is about to release.
Beyond the changes, which will undoubtedly change the release dates in Europe, Microsoft must pay the 497 million Euro ordered by the original ruling.
There was a small victory for Microsoft in the outcome. The company does not have to fund the trustee organization to hold Microsoft to the conditions of the court mandates.
Tags: microsoft, european union, anti-competition ruling, windows xp n, bundled software, sun, novell, monetary damages