Microsoft and the European Commission are still not playing nice and Microsoft only has a few weeks to comply with the EU's ruling or they could be paying up to $5M a day.
“Within a matter of weeks rather than months we will have to decide whether we are satisfied that they are complying with the remedies to our satisfaction,” spokesman Jonathan Todd said.
“And if they’re not, we’ll have to decide whether we’ll begin the proceedings to begin daily fines. But we have not reached that stage.”
The Commission, which polices competition in the 25-nation European Union, fined the U.S. software giant a record 497 million euro ($654.9 million) on March 24, 2004, and ordered it to change the way it does business.
The decision required Microsoft to make its ubiquitous Windows operating system available without Windows Media Player, so computer makers could buy alternative software, to play films and music, from RealNetworks and Apple.
Most of the large PC manufacturers have already stated that they would not be removing Windows Media Player from their systems sold in Europe.
Source: Reuters
