Open Sources | Rodrigues & Urlocker » EU fines Microsoft $1.3 billion

February 27, 2008 | Comments: (0)

EU fines Microsoft $1.3 billion

TAGS: Microsoft

Following on last week's announcement from Microsoft to be more interoperable and open, the EU has now fined Microsoft a cool $1.3 billion for failing to comply with a 2004 ruling. This brings the total fines the EU has levied on Microsoft to around $2.5 billion. This is the first fine in 50 years that the EU has imposed for a company because of a failure to comply with an anti-trust decision.

In reference to Microsoft's recent interoperability announcements, the EU Commissioner Neelie Kroes said

"We don’t want talk, we want compliance. If you cheat the rules, you will be caught.”

Ouch.

To most companies, a billion dollar fine would be enormous. To Microsoft, I'm not sure this has been an effective measure to get compliance. (Or at least, it seems not to have influenced their actions greatly.) But I wonder how customers in Europe feel about Microsoft's reputation. This can only hurt. And that impact could be far larger than the billions in fines.

Posted by Zack Urlocker on February 27, 2008 11:55 AM

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