From Bloomberg. Don't know why the link always lead to nowhere, can't link it. Visit Bloomberg to read yourself. Or here:
Oct. 22 (Bloomberg) -- Microsoft Corp., whose software powers about 95 percent of the world's personal computers, gave in to European Union demands that it help competitors connect to the Windows operating system.
Microsoft agreed to license proprietary information on how Windows shares files and printers to end three years of legal wrangling over a 2004 antitrust order. The accord will help Red Hat Inc., the world's biggest seller of Linux systems, and Sun Microsystems Inc. offer replacements for Windows.
``These changes in Microsoft's practices will profoundly affect software industries,'' European Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes told reporters in Brussels today. ``I sincerely hope that we can just close this dark chapter of our relationship.''
The accord furthers Microsoft's bid to resolve legal disputes worldwide that have been weighing on its shares. The company last week dropped its appeal of an antitrust decision in South Korea and today said it won't challenge a court decision last month upholding the EU decision. It's also seeking to end five years of U.S. court supervision for illegally protecting its near-monopoly on PC software.
Microsoft rose 34 cents, or 1.1 percent, to $30.51 at 4 p.m. New York time in Nasdaq Stock Market trading. The stock has gained 26 percent since the EU imposed a record 497 million-euro ($703 million) fine and ordered the company to change its business practices in March 2004. The Nasdaq Composite Index has gained 44 percent in the same period.
Trade Secrets
Under the 2004 decision, Microsoft had to disclose information to rivals and sell a version of Windows without a built-in video and audio player. The company resisted licensing data to open-source developers, who give away the software's source code, or the underlying instructions, because it would violate trade secrets and patents.
Kroes said open source products are ``virtually the only alternative'' to Microsoft, which has more than 70 percent market share for workgroup server software.
Microsoft got $4.5 billion in sales from its Windows Server software in its most recent fiscal year. Since 2002, the product's sales have grown at an annual rate of 13 percent, on average.
The agreement ``marks an important milestone'' in the EU's efforts to address Microsoft's ``continuing abuse of its dominant position,'' Thomas Vinje, a lawyer at Clifford Chance in Brussels who represents the European Committee for Interoperability Systems, a group that includes International Business Machines Corp. and Oracle Corp., the second- and third-largest software makers.
Still Considering Fines
The EU is still considering fining Microsoft for its past failure to disclose information to competitors including developers of so-called open-source software, Kroes said. Microsoft said the penalty could total as much as $1.58 billion.
Regulators are also probing complaints related to Vista, the latest version of Windows, and Microsoft Office.
The European Commission, the EU's antitrust authority in Brussels, said Microsoft offered to license information to open- source rivals on how Windows communicates over a network for a one-time payment of 10,000 euros. It will also reduce the royalties on related patents to 0.4 percent from 5.95 percent, the commission said.
`Benefit Computer Users'
``The measures that the commission has insisted upon will benefit computer users by bringing competition and innovation back to the server market,'' Kroes said in a statement today. ``I have always said that open source software developers must be able to take advantage of this remedy: now they can.''
Under the 2004 decision, Microsoft had to pay the record 497 million-euro fine, disclose network data to rivals and sell a version of Windows without a built-in video and audio player.
Microsoft will continue working closely with the EU regulator and industry to ensure a ``competitive environment for information technology in Europe and around the world,'' the company said in an e-mailed statement.
Kroes said the agreement followed two to three weeks of ``almost daily'' discussions with Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer. The two spoke about the case this morning and recently had dinner together near The Hague in the Netherlands, Kroes said, adding that she paid the bill.
``It wasn't the Dutch treatment,'' said Kroes, who is Dutch.
Open-Source
In the past, Microsoft has refused to license its technology to open-source software makers. Programs such as the free operating system Linux and a file and printing system called Samba are distributed under terms requiring access to the source code, or underlying operating instructions.
Carlo Piana, a lawyer for the Free Software Foundation Europe, which represents open-source developers, said the agreement may give software makers access to the so-called network protocol information.
``As soon as we've read the agreement, we'll have a final view,'' Piana said in a telephone interview. ``We have high hopes that the commission did what it was supposed to do.''
The regulator won't appeal the trustee aspect of the ruling, commission spokesman Jonathan Todd said today. The EU's second- highest court in September said Microsoft shouldn't have to pay the cost of the trustee to monitor its compliance.
In July 2006, the EU imposed a 280.5 million-euro penalty against the software company for failing to license information to rivals. It was the first time that the EU had fined a company for failing to comply with an antitrust order.
On March 1 this year, the commission threatened the company with millions of euros in daily fines backdated to December 2005 for charging ``unreasonable'' fees for licensing the protocols.
In today's statement, the commission said there is ``no reason to impose further penalties on Microsoft.''
Microsoft has an ``ongoing obligation'' to update the information as its products evolve, the commission said. Failure to do so could result in daily penalties, it said.
Some other linkys:
http://weblog.infoworld.com/tech-bottom-line/archives/2007/10/microsoft_opens.htmlhttp://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/336430_msfteu23.html
