A Tale Of Two Windows, In Europe At Least

by , 11:00 AM EST, February 25th, 2004

While Microsoft's settlement with the US DoJ made a mockery of antitrust regulation in the US, the less business-friendly European Union (EU) may be coming down a bit harder on Microsoft. The New York Times is reporting, via the Houston Chronicle, that the EU may require Microsoft to distribute two different versions of Windows in the EU. One version would have multimedia software bundled with and built into the operating system, while one version would not.

The thought from the EU on this is that such a remedy would keep Microsoft from Netscaping competitors in the multimedia arena. From the New York Times article:

European antitrust regulators are considering a requirement that Microsoft sell two versions of Windows in Europe -- one with the music- and video-playing software stripped out -- should they find the company to be an abusive monopoly, people close to the case said Tuesday.

Regulators may also demand that Microsoft itself propose "within a few months of a ruling" what computer code for Windows it should disclose to make the operating system fully compatible with programs and servers manufactured by rivals, these people said. Servers drive networks of personal computers.

There's more information on the background story in the full article.

The Mac Observer Spin:

The EU is being a bit more serious with Microsoft than the current US administration was, but we don't see this remedy remedying all that much. Tackling such technology-specific issues as multimedia playback, or Web browsing before that, does nothing at all to address the real issue, and that is Microsoft's habit of leveraging its monopoly power in OSes and productivity software to gain market share in new and emerging markets. As such, this possible scenario being dreamed up by the EU will do nothing for the long-term.

The only real solution was to break up the company into two (or three, depending on who you ask) companies, and that opportunity seems lost.

Still, at least someone is holding Microsoft's feet to the fire for its illegal behavior, even if it is a little-bitty campfire.

New York Times Article