It's more the list of "remedies" the EU competition authorities have handed down that is cause for concern for the company, which has sought to expand its operating system to incorporate almost all facets of the Internet. Painful remedies European Commissioner for Competition Mario Monti Image: APīut chief executive Steve Ballmer is less worried about the financial penalties, which will probably not cause too much pain for the Seattle-based company given its cash reserves of some $53 billion. The company said it would file an appeal with the EU's Court of First Instance in Luxembourg. "We respect the Commission's authority, but we believe that our settlement offer from last week would have offered far more choices and benefits to consumers." "We worked hard to reach an agreement that would address the European Commission's concerns and still allow us to innovate and improve our products for consumers," said Steve Ballmer, chief executive officer of Microsoft. It said EU regulators were unjustified in proposing such a large fine. Microsoft, the world's biggest software firm, has denied it abuses the overwhelming dominance of its Windows operating system to illegally crush competitors. The ruling is the highest ever penalty imposed by the EU's executive branch against a single company for violating competition regulations. The Commission said it would appoint a monitoring trustee "to ensure effective and timely compliance." The Commission said the release of the code, a demand heatedly contested by Microsoft, was necessary in order for server products created by competing companies to have "full interoperability" with computers running Windows. The company has been ordered to offer a version of Windows without its digital media player in three months and to release the "complete and accurate" interface code to rival companies in the server market within four month. "Today's decision restores the conditions for fair competition in the markets concerned and establishes clear principles for the future conduct of a company with such a strong dominant position."Ĭiting "illegal behavior" that is "ongoing," the EU antitrust authority is calling for Microsoft to implement a number of remedies. and does not harm consumers and innovation," EU Competition Commissioner Mario Monti said. "Dominant companies have a special responsibility to ensure that the way they do business doesn't prevent competition. The European Union on Wednesday fined Microsoft €497.2 million ($611 million) for abusing its "near monopoly" with its Windows operating system to crush competitors and gain the upper hand in markets for digital media players and low-end servers.
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