Inventive Software
22nd October 2007, 16:09
Microsoft has finally agreed to start complying with a European Commission 2004 anti-monopoly ruling against it.
The commission said the US firm would now "comply with its obligations".
The software giant was ruled to have shut out rivals from its Windows operating system to gain a larger share of the market for web servers.
It will now give third party program developers access to information that will allow them to make systems interoperable with Windows.
It will also substantially cut the fees it charges for such data.
EU Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes said she had secured the agreement following a phone call to Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer.
The European Commission said Microsoft will now charge a one-time fee of 10,000 euros to firms that want "complete and accurate" technical information on Windows software.
In addition, it will also allow the data to go to open source software developers.
Full article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7056288.stm
Only took them 3 years! :)
The commission said the US firm would now "comply with its obligations".
The software giant was ruled to have shut out rivals from its Windows operating system to gain a larger share of the market for web servers.
It will now give third party program developers access to information that will allow them to make systems interoperable with Windows.
It will also substantially cut the fees it charges for such data.
EU Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes said she had secured the agreement following a phone call to Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer.
The European Commission said Microsoft will now charge a one-time fee of 10,000 euros to firms that want "complete and accurate" technical information on Windows software.
In addition, it will also allow the data to go to open source software developers.
Full article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7056288.stm
Only took them 3 years! :)