With the new spring, additional Microsoft financial penalties may bloom on the European market. In the first day of March 2007, EC Commissioner for Competitiveness Neelie Kroes told Microsoft to "jump!" And Microsoft's answer should be "how low?".

The fact of the matter is that the European Antitrust Commission is no longer contesting Microsoft's compliance with its antitrust ruling in March 2004. Instead, the EU Commission has geared its focus on the royalties the Redmond Company will charge for licensing the communication protocols that will ensure interoperability of third-party products with Windows, be it desktop- or server-based. The EU Commission did not find relevance between the "innovation" of the communication protocols and the high pricing Microsoft is demanding.

"The statement of objections indicates the Commission's preliminary view that there is no significant innovation in the interoperability information, rejecting as unfounded 1500 pages of submissions by Microsoft from December 2005 onwards, and hence that the prices proposed by Microsoft are unreasonable. Microsoft has four weeks to reply to the SO, after which the Commission may impose a daily penalty for failure to comply with the March 2004 decision. The issue of whether the interoperability information is complete and accurate is still under consideration by the Commission," revealed the European Commission.

"Microsoft has agreed that the main basis for pricing should be whether its protocols are innovative. The Commission's current view is that there is no significant innovation in these protocols. I am therefore again obliged to take formal measures to ensure that Microsoft complies with its obligations," Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes commented.

The European Commission is dragging its feet in issuing a final conclusion regarding Microsoft's compliance with the March 2004 antitrust ruling. However, while doing so, it is still threatening the Redmond Company with new fines. In fact, Microsoft now faces financial penalties of 3 million euros per day.

"The Commission has not yet taken any final decision on whether or not Microsoft has failed to comply with the 2004 Decision as regards pricing of the interoperability information, and will only decide once it has examined any response (in writing and/or at an oral hearing) Microsoft may make to the Statement of Objections," the Commission explained.