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The European Commission - Directorate for Competition has officially dropped its antitrust charges against Microsoft, after Microsoft agreed to provide users of its Windows operating system a choice of web browsers. Under the new deal, Microsoft will avoid future E.C. fines and, from March, consumers will have a choice of up to twelve other web browsers.
Chipmaker Intel Corp will fight European Commission charges that it abused its dominance and gave illegal rebates to drive a smaller competitor from the market at a two-day closed hearing next week.
Governments contracting IT work could conclude that Microsoft's antitrust history constitutes "grave professional misconduct" and ban the company, according to the European Commission.
Karsten Gerloff, president of lobby group Free Software Foundation Europe, said the ongoing Microsoft arrangement was a "disgrace" for the European Commission (EC).
"It's astounding that every single agreement between the Commission and Microsoft since 1993 has been concluded without a public call for tender," he said.
As many believe, web users and innovators emerged winners upon the completion of the European Commission’s investigation into Microsoft’s browser-bundling practices. Microsoft will now offer users of Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7 a screen presenting a choice of Web browsers.
The European Commission fined Microsoft a massive €899 million (US$1.3 billion) for continued failure to honor the 2004 antitrust ruling against it, Commissioner for Competition Neelie Kroes said Wednesday.
THE latest Microsoft Office crime happens to have earned Microsoft a conviction, unlike so many OOXML crimes that the European Commission has not yet addressed. Justice is slow, but sometimes it eventually arrives. There continues to be a lot of coverage of this all over the Web. The coverage which comes from ITWire calls it "price-fixing" and "collusion".
