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| UPDATED: 2007-09-18 |
 EU: Microsoft Is A Monopoly 
By: Jordan McCollum 2007-09-18 In a decision handed down today, a European Union court upheld a lower courts ruling that Microsoft was a monopoly that abused... ...its market dominance, Reuters reports. Upholding a 2004 ruling, despite Microsofts appeal, the court reinstated the $689.9 million fine. Deciding that Microsoft had tied its software to its latest Windows operating system (Vista) to stifle their competition. Microsoft also refused to supply potential competitors with information to make their programs function smoothly in Windows. In addition to the fine, Microsoft will have to supply versions of Vista without Windows Media Player included, and share some of the information required to better integrate software with their competitors. Reuters reports that the EUs Competition Commissioner, Neelie Kroes, has taken this as a ringing endorsement. Having this case taken care of will clear up some time in Kroess schedule for going after other large corporations: Intel, Qualcomm and Rambus. There could be one more round of appeal to the highest EU court, the European Court of Justice. Microsoft General Counsel Brad Smith said they had not yet decided whether they would appeal. While the decision may be important in Europe, it may also just be another in a string of antitrust cases to Microsoft. Im pretty surprised that for all the antitrust fuss, the only program that Microsoft was required not to bundle was Window Media Player. Lets see a decision with some teeth--make them not include Internet Explorer or Microsoft Office! Comments Tag: Microsoft, Monopoly Add to  Del.icio.us |  Digg |  Reddit |  Furl About the Author: Jordan McCollum is a staff writer for the popular marketing blog Marketing Pilgrim. She has worked in search engine optimization with clients including 3M, Little Giant Ladders and ADP. After graduating from Brigham Young University, Jordan joined the SEO copywriting team at the Internet marketing firm 10x Marketing. After 10x closed its doors in December 2006, Jordan became a freelance writer and Internet marketing consultant specializing in SEO. She also has extensive experience with web analytics, conversion rate enhancement and e-mail marketing. |
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