Microsoft decamps Brussels, tail between legs: NOT!

Europe’s long war with Microsoft is drawing to a close. Weapons (legal) have fallen silent. Apologies made. Injured removed. And, of course, reparations paid.

Microsoft withdrew its appeal of European Commission (EC) decisions forcing the company to comply with interoperability rules. Software developers will no longer fight to make their products work with Microsoft software and operating systems. Microsoft even agreed that not-for-profit organizations, presumably including the EC, can access the secrets for free. In return, less a few hundred million euros, Microsoft can return to selling products and services with a bit less fear that new duties will be extracted.

The EC benefits, too. Its credibility in anti-trust cases is wholly established. Major companies wanting to sell their products and services in Europe, and the rest of the world, will stop first at the EC competition office. And finally, perhaps most important, the EC can leave behind the mid-1990’s attitude articulated by former EC Competition commissioner Mario Monti who said putting Microsoft in its place showed “the strength of a united Europe.”

True, Microsoft has held a whopping 90% market share of PC software worldwide for the last decade. True, too, that its Internet Explorer web-browser is falling behind Firefox. Hardware manufacturer Dell is now shipping open-source Linux operating systems in its PCs.

And, true too, Microsoft is moving on. Web-based applications are all the rage now and Microsoft is in the thick of it. Jeff Raikes, president of Microsoft’s business division, told the German newspaper Handelsblatt (published October 29) that Web-based software for business clients – software as a service (saas) – is a roll-out priority.

Mrs. Kroes confessed that final agreement was made post-dinner with Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer “at a small restaurant” in the Netherlands. Mrs. Kroes paid for the dinner. The effusive Ballmer is well-known (and highly regarded) as Microsoft’s best salesman. The imagination runs wild at what else Mrs. Kroes might have bought. - Michael Hedges October 29, 2007

Keywords:European Commission, Microsoft

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