Software wars

Microsoft has again shown it is ready to play rough to get its way – so much so that European Union antitrust regulators have started an investigation
A new European Commission investigation into Microsoft focuses on whether its software products are unlawfully tied to sales of its operating system
European Commission is to seek consumer and corporate feedback on remedies offered by Microsoft to tackle competition concerns over its browser
Microsoft has made a sweeping move to put its decade-long fight with Brussels behind it, with a proposal that would prompt personal computer users in Europe to choose if they want to use an alternative to the Internet Explorer web browser
The US software group resumes discussions over a potential settlement of its antitrust travails as regulators move closer to imposing stringent penalties on its ‘bundling’ practice
Microsoft unveiled bigger-than-expected discounts for some buyers of its forthcoming Windows 7 operating system, as it sought to stoke up demand for new PCs and put the poor reputation of Windows Vista behind it
In an unexpected move and in response to European regulators, the software group announced that it would strip its Internet Explorer out of Windows 7, the next version of the operating system, in the European market when the software goes on sale in October

Microsoft has again shown it is ready to play rough to get its way – so much so that European Union antitrust regulators have started an investigation

Taking on three decades of a huge corporation’s working methods is difficult. Bill Gates, the company’s guiding force, may be leaving but persuading his spirit to go is something else, says John Gapper

Courts be warned – in anti-trust cases, it is imperative that the punishment imposed always fit the crime commited, writes Richard Epstein

Microsoft and the European regulator became embroiled in an agonising clash of cultures. Tobias Buck tells the inside story of the EU’s pursuit of US software giant
The pursuit by European officials of some of the biggest US technology groups shows that important differences remain between the US and European approach
The Commission's willingness and ability to take on the likes of Microsoft and Intel in landmark investigations has irked national regulators, politicians and executives in the US

The European Commission should try to avoid another protracted legal fight. Its inquiry should be forward-looking and not just rake over the past
Microsoft finally admitted defeat in its three-year battle with the European Commission, agreeing to allow competitors access to technology that Brussels said would create more innovation in the software market
The European Commission’s antitrust battle against the software company has highlighted the differences between US and European attitudes towards dominance abuses
The European Court of First Instance dismissed the software group’s attacks on the March 2004 European Commission ruling, flicking aside its arguments as “scarcely credible,” “purely semantic” or “wholly unsubstantiated”
Neelie Kroes, the European Union competition commissioner, firmly rebuffed US criticism of the court judgment backing the landmark Brussels antitrust ruling against Microsoft
Microsoft’s bruising nine-year battle with the European Commission has ended in stinging defeat, and the ruling appears to cement Brussels’ position as regulator-in-chief of the global technology industry
Microsoft will be forced to hand over to rivals what the group claims is sensitive and valuable technical information about its Windows operating system for next to no compensation, according to a confidential document seen by the FT.
A format war between Microsoft and a coalition of companies led by IBM and Sun will be fought in the normally staid meeting rooms of national standard-setting bodies over the next two days