Angst of European Union With Microsoft

Another warning of the European Commission goes to Microsoft. While in an anti-trust struggle with Brussels, the company faced further fines for seeking unreasonable prices from the software developers for vital data. The European Union criticized Microsoft. The EU executive stated that the latest formal charges might lead the American software corporation to additional daily penalties.

Jonathan Todd, the competition spokesman of European Commission, said that the EU, for the first time in its antitrust policy, faces a company that did not pay any attention to antitrust decision. He mentioned that the long-term struggle with Microsoft continues due to the company's behavior as a dominant on the software market, mainly referring to Windows.

At a news conference Mr. Todd stated that Microsoft needs a special attention since it doesn't want to find common ground with antitrust policy.

A record fine of 497 million Euros was imposed on Microsoft by the European Commission on April 2004. This was because the software giant failed to provide information to the developers of small-business servers about the need to compete with its own products.

The officials from Microsoft outlined that the company will be charging for interoperability information. This is because the information was based on Microsoft's personal innovative work. However, the Commission stated that the company provided whether old or royalty-free information.

Mr. Todd mentioned that there was not one company that has signed up for Microsoft. This is because it was too expensive.

Neelie Kroes, the European Commission Commissioner, said that currently the EC does not see any significant innovation in Microsoft's protocols. This is why she had to take formal measures in order to be sure that the software corporation complies with its obligations.

Now Microsoft has four weeks to give an answer to the charges.