EU: Microsoft Still Not Obeying Ruling

[Movie Junkie]

Mar 10, 12:20 PM (ET)

 

By AOIFE WHITE

 

BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) - The European Commission told Microsoft Corp. on Friday that it was "still not in compliance" with a 2004 antitrust ruling that ordered it to share information with rivals to make their software work with Microsoft servers.

 

The EU has already threatened the company with 2 million euros ($2.4 million) in daily fines, backdated to Dec. 15, and said it will make its final decision after a hearing for Microsoft to plead its case later this month.

 

"The Commission takes the preliminary view that this information continues to be incomplete and inaccurate," the regulators said in a statement, basing their view on two reports from independent experts who looked at the latest version Microsoft had submitted.

 

Microsoft said the fact that the Commission looked at the evidence after it filed charges last December showed that the charges were "fundamentally flawed and should be withdrawn."

 

"Microsoft has submitted, in its response to the Commission's statement of objections, a large volume of expert testimony that finds in the clearest terms that Microsoft's documentation reaches or exceeds every industry standard for the documentation of such technologies," it said.

 

"That documentation, coupled with free technical support and source code access for licensees, meets and surpasses the requirements of the Commission's 2004 decision."

 

The man appointed to monitor Microsoft's compliance with the ruling - computer science professor Neil Barrett - found that although the documentation had improved slightly, "nothing substantial was added."

 

"The improvements required to the documentation are not merely refinements or improvements to the text: The documentation as it stands is unusable," the Commission said.

 

Another report from information technology consultancy TAEUS Europe Ltd., described parts of the Microsoft documentation as "entirely inadequate,""devoted to obsolete functionality" and "self-contradictory."

 

It said the document was written "primarily to maximize volume (page count), while minimizing useful information."

 

Both experts said Microsoft seemed to assume that users should inform it of incorrect, incomplete or inaccurate information.

 

TAEUS compared this to a car manufacturer responding to a customer complaint that a car had been delivered without wheels: "This would be like the manufacturer supplying wheels only to have the next deficiency come up - namely that the automobile has no engine, and then no steering wheel, then no brakes, etc."

 

Last December, the EU charged that Microsoft had not obeyed the 2004 ruling and threatened daily fines. Microsoft will get an oral hearing on March 30 and 31 to plead its case.

 

The EU will afterward decide if it will fine the company every day from Dec. 15 until the date of its decision to impose the fines. It warned it might take other steps to extend the daily fines.

 

"What they have done is insufficient," said EU spokesman Jonathan Todd. "It's now two years since the decision."

 

Earlier Friday, the EU defended Barrett from Microsoft's allegations that he, EU officials and Microsoft rivals had colluded ahead of Barrett writing a report last autumn that criticized Microsoft's earlier efforts to provide documentation.

 

Microsoft wants to see correspondence between them to see if Barrett had been influenced in any way.

 

Last week, it asked three U.S. courts to compel Sun Microsystems Inc. , IBM Corp., Oracle Corp. and Novell Inc. to hand over correspondence to use as evidence in its legal challenge to the EU charges.

 

Microsoft said Friday the EU was still failing to address its main criticism that the regulator is acting both as prosecutor and an independent judge of how much access the company should have to documents connected to the case.

 

The EU levied a record 497 million euro ($613 million) fine against Microsoft in March 2004. It also ordered the company to share code with rivals and offer a version of Windows without the Media Player software.

 

Microsoft is appealing the ruling and the case will be heard in late April by the European Court of First Instance, the EU's second-highest court.

[spinningwheel]

The Forbes list is out and Gates has a net worth of 50 billion $, maybe he can just buy the EU and make M$ the official religion....

[Movie Junkie]

[kevdriver]

The Forbes list is out and Gates has a net worth of 50 billion $, maybe he can just buy the EU and make M$ the official religion....

 

 

 

 

 

You know Spinner, as funny as it is, I wouldn't overlook any possiblity with Gates. The man has smarts, or at least surrounds himself with people that do, and with his money............. nah! that wouldn't be possible would it? Microsoft EU.... #39;( #39;( .

[Movie Junkie]

The Forbes list is out and Gates has a net worth of 50 billion $, maybe he can just buy the EU and make M$ the official religion....

 

 

 

 

 

You know Spinner, as funny as it is, I wouldn't overlook any possiblity with Gates. The man has smarts, or at least surrounds himself with people that do, and with his money............. nah! that wouldn't be possible would it? Microsoft EU.... #39;( #39;( .

Just think of how many security flaws it would have.

[polopony]

he'll probably come up with a scheme where he gives away usb drives assembles all there is to know about every person on the planet and then take over the world

[kevdriver]

#39;( #39;( #39;(

[volvofl10]

Fortunately, here in the EU we dont handle dictators very well, and tend to eliminate them ........................... i wonder if Gates thinks of that before he trys to buy it ........just ask adolf

[spinningwheel]

No...No..No Volvo....not a dick-tater.......

 

Archbishop of the:

 

'New and Improved Never-Flawless and Still Working on it First Church of M$ the Almighty V1.0'

 

 

[Movie Junkie]

No...No..No Volvo....not a dick-tater.......

 

Archbishop of the:

 

'New and Improved Never-Flawless and Still Working on it First Church of M$ the Almighty V1.0'

 

 

...in which you get to the sermons more quickly than in the previous beta release.

[polopony]

The services are done in various packs

[Movie Junkie]

The services are done in various packs

I guess that would bring new meaning to the term "Service Pack".

[Shamus_McFartfinger]

You know Spinner, as funny as it is, I wouldn't overlook any possiblity with Gates. The man has smarts, or at least surrounds himself with people that do

 

As cunning as a shithouse rat, as we say over here. The way he runs he and his wifes? charity is brilliant. A model of how all charities should be run. Very, very efficiently. Credit where credit is due.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

P.S. Windows sucks.

[Movie Junkie]

As cunning as a shithouse rat, as we say over here. The way he runs he and his wifes? charity is brilliant. A model of how all charities should be run. Very, very efficiently. Credit where credit is due.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

P.S. Windows sucks.

That is the only thing I like about him. Of course being in as high of a tax bracket as he is, he probably get back in tax savings nearly all of what he spends in charity donations.

[Shamus_McFartfinger]

Perhaps. Not many people would be priveleged to the motives behind his and her charity work but credit is due all the same. They?ve allocated (given) a staggering amount of money for their charity. Something like $5,000,000,000 has been commited to charitable works, all of which is dispensed and handled like a business. A very business savvy and intelligent couple who might be doing what they do just because they can.

[Movie Junkie]

Don't get me wrong. I do agree with you that what they are doing is great (besides being a good business model) and they do deserve the credit.

 

You don't often hear about mega-corporations like Microsoft doing charity work of that magnitude. The only only other one that I can think of is the Pew Foundation. I am sure there are others but I doubt there are more than a handful.

[polopony]

if you're going to give it to the government then you might as well set up a foundation thats recognized by the IRS and then you can give the money to a cause thats near and dear to you .Like its been said you dont have to be brilliant but surround yourself with those who are, Ross Perot comes to mind

[Shamus_McFartfinger]

The current US president comes to mind....... he?s as dumb as dogshit. A classic example of surrounding yourself with people who are smarter than you.

[Movie Junkie]