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| | | March 28, 2004
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Sunday, March 28, 2004 |
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Microsoft fined, declared abusive monopolist
The European Union announced its long-anticipated ruling on Microsoft's antitrust woes, imposing the harshest competition-related fine in European history and demands set to have wide-ranging ramifications for the industry.
Mario Monti, EU's chief competition commissioner, defended the record fine of €497 million (approximately $613 million) and unveiled a set of requirements for Microsoft to meet, in order to allow fair competition in the market. The ruling calls for Microsoft to disclose crucial information to rival server makers within 120 days and provide them with updates in the future. The EU also demanded that Microsoft offers a version of the ubiquitous Windows operating system without a bundled media player within a 90-day period. In addition, Monti said that the software maker should not make the "unbundled" version less attractive for European customers to purchase.
Not surprisingly, Microsoft said it will appeal the ruling. Steve Ballmer, the giant's chief executive, denounced the ruling as stifling innovation in the industry.
"We believe that every company should have the ability to improve its products to meet the needs of consumers," Ballmer said at a news conference. "We recognize the sort of special position our company has, but nonetheless we think we should have that ability to improve our products, subject to the appropriate guidelines."
Microsoft's chief lawyer, Brad Smith said the company will ask for some of the ruling's demands to be suspended pending the outcome of Microsoft's appeal. Smith also added that the upcoming litigation may take up to five years.
The decision by the European Union came after more than five years of investigations into the business practices of the world's largest software maker. Last week when it was more than clear that a dramatic decision is looming, Ballmer urgently met with Monti to discuss a potential settlement, but the talks collapsed after the two sides failed to reach an agreement on the future behavior of Microsoft.
More from: AP (via Wired News) | CNET News.com 1 2 3 4 | Computerworld 1 2 3 | eWeek 1 2 3 | InternetNews.com 1 2 | TechWeb 1 2 3 4 | VNUNET.com 1 2 | The Washington Post 1 2 3 4 | Wired News
Novell aims to bereave Microsoft of desktop ubiquity
At its BrainShare conference, Novell said it is planning to launch an assault on Microsoft's desktop software dominance with its newly acquired Linux strengths. Just months after buying the number two Linux seller, SuSE Linux, Novell is now vying to take the top spot and make inroads into Microsoft's strongest market: desktop computing.
"We believe that in the next 12 months, we will see the widespread adoption of Linux on the desktop," Novell Vice Chairman Chris Stone said at the conference.
More from: CNET News.com | InternetNews.com | VNUNET.com
In Other News...
 Hewlett-Packard filed a patent infringement lawsuit against rival computer maker Gateway. The suit alleges Gateway violated six HP patents and failed to remunerate the company. Gateway said it will defend against the allegations.
Yahoo! announced it will acquire European shopping price comparison web portal Kelkoo for nearly $575 million in cash. The Internet media giant is seeking once more to expand into the rapidly developing and booming European e-commerce market, investing heavily in technologies and recognized brand names.
MSN, Microsoft's Internet division, announced plans to unveil a news aggregation web site called MSN Newsbot and a web log search technology called MSN Blogbot later this year. The two services are expected to come ahead of the introduction of the giant's own web search technology which is also expected to debut before the end of 2004. The news came after Microsoft's CEO, Steve Ballmer, acknowledged the company had been shortsighted for not appraising earlier the power and importance of algorithmic search in an Internet-driven era.
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