On the heels of Microsoft's new-found commitment to interoperability, a path that also focuses on open source solutions, as well as the February €899 million antitrust financial penalty from the EU Commission, the Redmond company has taken yet another hit in the European arena. In this context, the European Commission has announced that it plans to embark on a more pro-active strategy of adopting open source solutions. In this manner, the EC has virtually renounced its neutral position when it comes to the face-off between open source and proprietary software.

"For all future IT developments and procurement procedures, the Commission shall promote the use of products that support open, well-documented standards. Interoperability is a critical issue for the Commission, and usage of well-established open standards is a key factor to achieve and endorse it. For all new development, where deployment and usage is foreseen by parties outside of the Commission infrastructure, Open Source Software will be the preferred development and deployment platform," EC revealed according to IDABC.

The announcement as well as the associated scenario will hurt Microsoft the most. Strong adoption of open source software together with increased support is a situation that the Redmond company aims to avoid. Open source and free software solutions are an alternative to Microsoft's proprietary products, but as long as there is no consistent environment of third-party hardware and software developers to support OSS adoption will continue to limp. At the same time, without adoption of open source and free software products, third-party hardware and software developers have little reason to focus on OSS.

Speaking for Siim Kallas, the European commissioner responsible for administrative tasks, spokesperson Valerie Rampie indicated that the EC went public with its new strategy exclusively for informative reasons. Microsoft has not issued an official statement regarding the matter.