Mattias Leufkens, Head of PR for the World Economic Forum, Davos

Click here for a slightly ridiculous video by Robert Scoble.

Microsoft vs the E.U. Again…

Microsoft is in hot water with the European Commission over competition laws again. In 2004, the Commission ruled that their dominant market position was being abused in order to maintain a near-monopoly over operating systems (OS), and Microsoft had to disclose interface code (allowing production of interoperable programs), provide their OS without the ubiquitous Windows Media Player, and pay €500 million in fines.

         But on January 14^th the EU Commission – unsatisfied with Microsoft’s attempts to rectify the problems – launched two new antitrust suits. The Court of First Instance upheld judgements requiring dominant companies to disclose interoperability information, and complaints from Opera and ECIS led the Commission to examine how interoperable their Office Open XML suite is, and whether new technologies used in Internet Explorer hinder transparency of interface protocols.

         After several years of attempts to comply with regulations, it seems that Microsoft – as dominant OS manufacturer worldwide – is still loath to relinquish its near-monopoly. But in view of the EU Commission’s slow progress towards final judgements on the issue, who can blame Microsoft for sticking to an as-yet highly successful business model?

 

D. Le Ray