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
EU v Microsoft
Resources
A new European Commission investigation into Microsoft focuses on whether its software products are unlawfully tied to sales of its operating system
Microsoft close to EU deal on browser dispute
European Commission is to seek consumer and corporate feedback on remedies offered by Microsoft to tackle competition concerns over its browser
Microsoft offers deal to EU on Explorer
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
Microsoft and Brussels restart talks
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 reveals discounts for Windows 7
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
Microsoft replies to EU by stripping browser
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
Related content and features
Comment and Analysis
Opening the windows on Microsoft
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
The Microsoft consent decree: a good start gone bad
Courts be warned – in anti-trust cases, it is imperative that the punishment imposed always fit the crime commited, writes Richard Epstein
Clash of the titans
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
Transatlantic divide
EU’s line highlights Atlantic rift
The pursuit by European officials of some of the biggest US technology groups shows that important differences remain between the US and European approach
Europe regulators outpunch US
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
Microsoft’s Appeal
Microsoft wars
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 concedes defeat in EU battle
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
Microsoft case reveals a regulatory gulf
The European Commission’s antitrust battle against the software company has highlighted the differences between US and European attitudes towards dominance abuses
Microsoft bows to the EU system
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”
Kroes rebuffs US on Microsoft ruling
Neelie Kroes, the European Union competition commissioner, firmly rebuffed US criticism of the court judgment backing the landmark Brussels antitrust ruling against Microsoft
Microsoft ruling
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
EU blow to Microsoft on Windows
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.
Microsoft format fight with rivals to intensify
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
