EU fines Microsoft another $1.3 billion

by Brad Linder Feb 27th 2008

After ruling that Microsoft has failed to comply with a 2004 antitrust order, the European Union has added $1.3 billion to the fines already owed by Microsoft. That brings the total to about $2.5 billion, or just slightly more than pocket change to Bill Gates.

A few years back, EU regulators had decided that Microsoft was abusing its position as the number one operating system provider by bundling software with Windows that would decrease competition. Wednesday the EU ruled that Microsoft hasn't done enough to remedy the situation

Microsoft released a statement pointing out that in October of 2007, the EU found that the company was "in full compliance with the 2004 decision," meaning that the fine relates to past misdeeds. This could explain why Microsoft made such a big show of launching an open standards initiative last week.

Tags: EU, fines, news, regulators

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

James said 10:36AM on 2-27-2008

Man, I'm no Microsoft fanboy, but sometimes I want to punch these EU assholes right in their big Socialist faces. Nothing like hating success to help your economy out...

Aaron said 1:25PM on 2-27-2008

If I were Microsoft, I would pull out of Europe. To hell with them...Leave them in the dark ages. They are not worth it. The EU needs to be investigated. Someone is receiving kickbacks and incentives. The amount of interference with American companies is ridiculous.

Albert said 1:30PM on 2-27-2008

If I were EU, I would pull out of Europe. To switch to Linux and stop this monopoly...

Stop the war plzzz...

Bloobie said 6:13AM on 2-28-2008

Ah, right, because the EU has no right to tell an (American) company how to practice business within its jurisdiction and in accordance to its laws.

Mysterius said 6:15AM on 2-28-2008

While the EU has every right to enforce its laws, the coverage I've seen gives the impression that the EU is raking Microsoft over the coals here.

I haven't followed the story, so I won't dismiss the EU out of hand, but frankly their ineffectual-but-vociferous condemnations are starting to look simply petulant.

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