"I have always said that open source software developers must be able to take advantage of [the 2004 ruling]: now they can," the Commission's competition commissioner Neelie Kroes boasted in a press release.

THE president of the FFII says that he "has just copied the European Commission's video where Neelie Kroes explains that Microsoft can tax competitors with patents." Here is a high-resolution version [MPEG] and the Ogg version below.

The Free Software Foundation Europe has analysed the most important elements that a settlement should contain to allow real competition in the European software market. It has summarised those key points in a letter sent to Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes.

The New York Times reports today a hard rebuke from European Union’s competition commissioner, Neelie Kroes, against Microsoft’s tactics in Europe. In her speech she offered up some advice worth heeding; “I know a smart business decision when I see one — choosing open standards is a very smart business decision indeed,” Ms. Kroes told a conference in Brussels.

High Noon in Brussels: At the end of her term, competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes is wrapping up two open cases against Microsoft. The company offered to settle in July 2009. FSFE is concerned that a quick settlement could deprive Europeans of competition and innovation in a software market based on open standards, in particular where Free Software is concerned.

" The future of software patents in Europe is uncertain. The Software Patent Directive was rejected by the European Parliament on the 6th of July 2005, after seven years of campaigning by people in FSFE and other organisations - most notably, one of our associate organisations, FFII. This was a monumental victory and displays the legislative competence of the Free Software community. However, the struggle is not over. Information about the current status of software patents in the EU can be found in this November 2007 blog entry: Do software patents exist in the EU?

The software patent issue is likely to return via initiatives such as the Community Patent or the European Patent Litigation Agreement (EPLA)..."

The European Union's competition commissioner, Neelie Kroes, delivered an unusually blunt rebuke to Microsoft on Tuesday by recommending that businesses and governments use software based on open standards. She called using open technology a "smart business decision".

Europe's competition commissioner Neelie Kroes delivered a thinly veiled warning to Microsoft Tuesday that the software giant's behind-the-scenes maneuverings to secure industrywide standard status for its document format, Office Open XML earlier this year "risk falling foul of the competition rules."

This time it's Microsoft's turn to be bashed, but next time it may be an open-source company, or your company. Many big technology companies pay up to patent pirates, and while i4i isn't one of those and Microsoft talks big now, they may well end up paying up. U.S.