The European Union have issued Microsoft with a huge record breaking fine of Euro 899million (approx $1.3billion) for charging competitors too much for sortware information.
EU Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes said Microsoft now appears to have finally complied with a 2004 EU antitrust order.
later however, Kroes warned that the company was not fully in the clear yet because last month the EU launched new probes into Office software and Windows’ Internet browser. The fine is the largest ever for a single company.
Microsoft immediately defended these fines and said they were about past issues that have been resolved and the company was now working under new principles to make its products more open. No decision as to whether an appeal will be launched in regards to the size of the fine has been confirmed.
Triggered by a 1998 complaint by Sun Microsystems Inc. that alleged Microsoft was deliberately refusing to supply information that servers need to communicate with Windows, the fine largely shuts the door on an investigation into Microsoft’s behavior.
