What Does Microsoft's Lost Antitrust Battle in Europe Mean for Windows Vista?

The European Court of First Instance in Luxembourg announced that it was upholding the European Commission's decision on Microsoft's abuse of its dominant market position with the Windows operating system initially delivered in March 2004. Losing the antitrust battle with the European regulators has not managed to turn the Redmond company away from Europe. Microsoft will be forced to deliver the interoperability protocols for its work group servers, as well as pay the original 497 million Euros fine. Microsoft however, reacted with diplomacy to the decision of the Court of First Instance, and stated that it will continue to focus on Europe. Brad Smith, Microsoft Senior Vice President and General Counsel, outlined the coordinates of Microsoft's growth over the Atlantic since the debut of the antitrust face-off.

"A lot has changed, but I will say that one thing has remained constant, and will continue to do so, and that is Microsoft's commitment to Europe. When this case started, we published Windows in 24 European languages; today that number is 41, and it will continue to grow. When we started this case, we had 3,900 employees in Europe; today we have 13,000, and that number will continue to grow. When this case started, we were spending $3 million a year on research and development in Europe; today we are spending almost half a billion, and that number will continue to grow. Today we work with over 200,000 business partners, who employ almost 3 million people on the European continent, and that number too will continue to grow," Smith stated.

Windows Vista will not be affected in any manner by the fact that Microsoft has lost the appeal it filed for the March 2004 antitrust ruling of the European Commission. The Redmond company is currently selling Vista in Europe as editions bundled with Windows Media Player, and as variants stripped of the product. This will continue in the future, as the company ensured Vista was in line with the 2004 antitrust decision. Microsoft was ordered to continue to "offer a full-functioning version of the Windows client PC operating system which does not incorporate Windows Media Player, although Microsoft retains the right to offer a bundle of the Windows client PC operating system and Windows Media Player," which the company is already doing with Windows Vista Home Premium N and Business N editions.