A technical error could Microsoft
Corporation(NASDAQ:MSFT) dear and could end up in its becoming liable
to pay up to $7.4 billion in fines levied by the European Union for breach
of agreement.
European Union anti-trust laws are pretty stringent
and software giant Microsoft has often found itself on the wrong side of the
regulators there, who have already fined it in the past for an amount of $1.28
billion.
But this will seem like small change if the current
violation is brought on to the company.
In 2009, Microsoft, acting under the orders of the EU
offered its Windows users in Europe a wide choice in browsers after allegations
surfaced that the Windows operating environment did not allow other browsers
(other than Internet Explorer) to be downloaded.
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This was known as browser ballot and gave users the
freedom to choose their own browsers, according to their needs.
However earlier this personal computers shipped to
Europe were found not to have this functionality. It affected those PCs which
were operating Windows 7 with Service Pack 1.
When the error was brought to the notice of Microsoft
it said that it was a technical error and admitted that around 28 million PCs
did not have the browser ballot. Those operating the original Windows 7 and
other versions of the operating system did not have this problem.
However the EU regulators have taken a different view
of this matter and are looking at it as a serious violation and a breach of
agreement that cold have potential serious consequences for the world’s largest
software company.
"The next step is to open a formal proceeding
into the company's breach of an agreement. We are working on this," EU
Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia reportedly told reporters at a
conference in Warsaw. "It should not be a long investigation because the
company itself explicitly recognized its breach of the agreement."
That sounds rather ominous.
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