Rivals tell Microsoft: You got what you deserved

 

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By Matthew Sparkes

Posted on 17 Sep 2007 at 18:49

Microsoft's rivals have applauded an EU court's decision to uphold antitrust penalties against the software giant.

The company has been fined £343m and will be forced to release a version of Windows without Media Player, after its appeal was almost wholly rejected by the EU Court of First Instance.

The Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) says the court's verdict was long overdue. "Through tactics that successfully derailed antitrust processes in other parts of the world, including the United States, Microsoft has managed to postpone this day for almost a decade," says FSFE president, Georg Greve. "But thanks to the perseverance and excellent work of the European Commission, these tactics have now failed in Europe."

Grove adds that it's important for Microsoft to publish details that allow interoperable products to be created, in order to provide competition and stimulate innovation. A view echoed by Linux vendor, RedHat. "Today's decision by the Court of First Instance in Luxembourg in the Microsoft matter is great news for innovation and consumer choice," says CEO Matthew Szulik.

"In our business, interoperability information is critically important and cannot simply be withheld to exclude all competition. Red Hat would like to congratulate the European Commission for its persistence and courage in bringing this matter to a successful result."

RealNetworks, whose media player software suffered as a result of Microsoft bundling Media Player, says the verdict settles old scores. "We think that the court was right in their ruling. We believe in every business being able to play on a level playing field, and this shows that the field wasn't level," says Piers Heaton-Armstrong, European marketing director of RealNetworks. However, he adds that Real Networks "settled our differences with Microsoft a long time ago, when they paid us $761 million," in a 2005 settlement.

As for Microsoft, it remains remarkably upbeat, even taking time to thank the court for all its hard work. "It is clear that the court has agreed with the Commission on a number of the Commission's points, and I do want to simply start by expressing our gratitude to this court for the lengthy consideration that it gave to these issues," says Brad Smith, senior vice president and general counsel for the company.

"These are obviously complicated and important topics, and we appreciate all of the objective and thorough work that went into the decision."