Microsoft Responds to the € 899 Million Antitrust Fine

On February 7, 2008, the European Union Antitrust Commission fined Microsoft no less than € 899 million, or approximately $1.3 billion, for failing to comply with the March 2007 ruling until 22 October 2007. The Commission underlined the fact that the penalty payment of € 899 million was connected exclusively with the company's non-compliance with its obligations under the March 2004 Decision, and nothing more. Microsoft had been ordered back in 2004 to share interface documentation with its rivals, namely the Windows server and communications protocols.

I have contacted Microsoft in regard to the new financial penalties announced and the company had this to say. "We are reviewing the Commission's action. The Commission announced in October 2007 that Microsoft was in full compliance with the 2004 decision, so these fines are about past issues that have been resolved. As we demonstrated last week with our new interoperability principles and specific actions to increase the openness of our products, we are trying to focus on steps that will improve things for the future," a Microsoft spokesperson revealed, providing no additional comments beyond this.

In her own statement about the matter, European Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes stated that Microsoft has set a precedent in the EU antitrust arena. The Redmond company is in fact the first to be fined for failure to comply with an antitrust ruling in no less than 50 years of EU competition policy. The original March 2004 Decision was supported in September 2007 by the conclusion of the European Court of First Instance, in Luxembourg. Kroes added that she hoped the new € 899 million antitrust fine would be the final dark chapter in Microsoft's non-compliance saga.

On February 21, 2008, Microsoft, in a move that the company claims is unrelated with the latest antitrust financial penalty, announced a new direction in regards to both its strategy, technology and business practices in order to expand interoperability.