14 DAY TRIAL // In one corner we have quite an impressive lineup including IBM, Nokia, Sun Microsystems, Adobe Systems, Oracle, Corel, RealNetworks, Linspire, Opera and Red Hat as the European Committee for Interoperable Systems (ECIS). In the opposite corner, we have Microsoft. Mediating over the ring? the European Union Antitrust Commission.
Microsoft has found Europe to be quite an unforgiving mistress. And on more than one occasion. In fact, twice already, the Redmond juggernaut has flirted with the EU's Antitrust Commission legal fire and got burned.
The 2004 EU antitrust ruling cost Microsoft 500 million Euros. In 2006, a financial penalty of 280.5 million Euros was added to the initial fine. 780.5 million Euros was enough to convince Microsoft to wrap up and submit over 8.500 pages of Technical Documentations. But only 750.5 million euros and two years later. And just as a mountain of technical documentations is complete and available, the operating environment is starting to shift towards Vista. Just as Microsoft has disclosed and licensed the complete and accurate interface documentation allowing non-Microsoft work group servers to achieve full interoperability with Windows PCs and servers, the Redmond Company introduces Vista, while Longhorn is just a few steps away. Timing is everything?
Sure, Microsoft has backed up in the case of PatchGuard, also an example of the European antitrust legislation hard at work for third party developers. But access to the x64 kernel in Windows Vista is just crumbs. The security developers will do nothing more than to build on top of the 64-bit Vista's core.
However, the XAML markup language and the open XML standard are a whole different issue. For the security APIs Microsoft started dialog immediately. As far as XAML and OOXML are concerned? a company representative stated that the issues brought before the Commission are nothing new. Microsoft has to deliver a viable alternative to ODF. And to bridge the desktop with Internet based services via Vista.
Microsoft is going to ride this one out. You have to think about it in terms of costs. Microsoft announced a $1.6 billion deferral for the Technology Guarantee programs for Vista for a single quarter. What is a fine but another deferral? One to keep competitors at bay. Windows Vista alone will impact directly over 1 million jobs across Denmark, France, Germany, Poland, Spain and the United Kingdom and generate revenue of in excess of 32 billion Euros. Microsoft will use these aspects to its advantage.
If XAML and OOXML are the fulcrum and the EU Antitrust Commission is the lever, it will all come down to which player will deliver the strongest impulse. ECIS or Microsoft?