Skip to main content

Microsoft Capitulates to EU Ruling

In a surprising move, software giant Microsoft has decided not to appeal last month’s decision by the European Court of First Instance, which upheld the terms of the European Commission’s antitrust ruling against Microsoft. By capitulating the to the decision, Micosoft obligates itself to provide information to third party developers—including open source developers—so they can create products which interoperate with Microsoft’s server operating systems.

Microsoft lost its appeal against the terms of the EU antitrust ruling in September. Under the ruling, Microsoft is also obligated to pay 80 percent off the EC’s legal costs. In 2006, Microsoft was ordered to pay fines totaling some $280 million a day over a six-month period for failing to live up to terms of the 2004 antitrust ruling.

Recommended Videos

"I welcome that Microsoft has finally undertaken concrete steps to ensure full compliance with the 2004 Decision," said Commissioner Neelie Kroes. "It is regrettable that Microsoft has only complied after a considerable delay, two court decisions, and the imposition of daily penalty payments. However, the measures that the Commission has insisted upon will benefit computer users by bringing competition and innovation back to the server market."

Microsoft has agreed to three main points to bring them into compliance with the 2004 decision:

  • Open source developers will be able to access and interoperability information to tie into Microsoft’s workgroup server products. Microsoft had previously refused to license its technology to open source developers at any price, claiming doing so would reveal their trade secrets;
  • Royalty fees for this interoperability information will be reduced to a one-time payment of €10,000;
  • Royalities for a worldwide license (including patents) will be reduced to less than 7 percent of the original royalty Microsoft demanded of developers (from 5.95 percent of sales to to 0.4 percent).

In choosing not to appeal the Court of First Instance ruling, Microsoft has effectively established the EC’s tough stance on monopoly abuses as European law. It has also validated the EU’s power to compel even the world’s most powerful enterprises to share their intellectual property with competitors without attaching onerous terms.

Several ancillary issues remain to be worked out, including how much Microsoft will have to pay the EU to resolve its obligations in regard to daily fines and two fixed penalties. Microsoft’s total obligation to the EU currently totals over €1 billion, although the EU has now stopped assessing the daily fines. Similarly, complaints about Microsoft’s dominance of the office productivity software arena are not addressed at all by Microsoft’s decision not to appeal the Court of First Instance’s decision.

Geoff Duncan
Former Contributor
Geoff Duncan writes, programs, edits, plays music, and delights in making software misbehave. He's probably the only member…
How to change margins in Google Docs
Laptop Working from Home

When you create a document in Google Docs, you may need to adjust the space between the edge of the page and the content -- the margins. For instance, many professors have requirements for the margin sizes you must use for college papers.

You can easily change the left, right, top, and bottom margins in Google Docs and have a few different ways to do it.

Read more
What is Microsoft Teams? How to use the collaboration app
A close-up of someone using Microsoft Teams on a laptop for a videoconference.

Online team collaboration is the new norm as companies spread their workforce across the globe. Gone are the days of primarily relying on group emails, as teams can now work together in real time using an instant chat-style interface, no matter where they are.

Using Microsoft Teams affords video conferencing, real-time discussions, document sharing and editing, and more for companies and corporations. It's one of many collaboration tools designed to bring company workers together in an online space. It’s not designed for communicating with family and friends, but for colleagues and clients.

Read more
Microsoft Word vs. Google Docs
A person using a laptop that displays various Microsoft Office apps.

For the last few decades, Microsoft Word has been the de facto standard for word processors across the working world. That's finally starting to shift, and it looks like one of Google's productivity apps is the heir apparent. The company's Google Docs solution (or to be specific, the integrated word processor) is cross-platform and interoperable, automatically syncs, is easily shareable, and perhaps best of all, is free.

However, using Google Docs proves it still has a long way to go before it can match all of Word's features -- Microsoft has been developing its word processor for over 30 years, after all, and millions still use Microsoft Word. Will Google Docs' low barrier to entry and cross-platform functionality win out? Let's break down each word processor in terms of features and capabilities to help you determine which is best for your needs.
How does each word processing program compare?
To put it lightly, Microsoft Word has an incredible advantage over Google Docs in terms of raw technical capability. From relatively humble beginnings in the 1980s, Microsoft has added new tools and options in each successive version. Most of the essential editing tools are available in Google Docs, but users who are used to Word will find it limited.

Read more