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Eus Microsoft Ruling Better Late Than Never

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by Kevin Maney
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Sep 17 2007 12:00am EDT

EU's Microsoft Ruling: Better Late Than Never?

Well, those Europeans are right on the ball. The European Union Court of First Instance finally handed down its ruling saying Microsoft abused its monopoly power -- a good half-dozen years too late to make much difference in the market.

Part of the ruling forces Microsoft to release some code as punishment for using its Windows personal computer monopoly to secure market share in computer servers -- even though Microsoft now has hearty competition in servers from Linux. Another part punishes Microsoft for bundling its Windows Media Player and damaging competition in that space. But at this point, lots of Windows users don't ever open their Media Player software, preferring to use iTunes, Web-based Flash media players and other ways to play songs and video.

Blogger Todd Bishop has some good back-and-forth about what the ruling means. And, as can be expected, the House member from Microsoft's home state totally overreacts.

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