European Commission Fines Microsoft $1.35 Billion
The European Commission, Microsoft’s biggest thorn in its side lately, fined the company 899 million Euros, or $1.35 billion, for still not meeting their expectations in complying with 2004 penalties, the umpteenth time they’ve fined them for that reason. This brings Microsoft’s toatl fines over the last four years to 1.68 billion Euros, or just shy of $2.5 billion.
The EC keeps claiming Microsoft is ignoring sanctions, but Microsoft continues opening up more and more in an attempt to comply and stave off future fines. If they don’t think Microsoft is doing enough, fine, that’s their prerogative, but to say Microsoft is ignoring them requires, well, ignoring Microsoft’s actions the last few years. The company is really trying, and as long as it is making good faith attempts to fix these issues, it should at least merit a slightly smaller fine, say, $100 million?
After fining Microsoft 407 million euros in 2004, the Commission fined it another 280.5 million euros in July 2006 for failing to comply with the sanctions through June 21, 2006. (Reporting by David Lawsky; Editing by Dale Hudson)
Where the hell is all this money going, anyway? Shouldn’t they give the money to the companies Microsoft has supposedly wronged, instead of using it to balance their budget or something?
I agree, they are treating Microsoft as their personal bank now. This is only about lining their pocket books.
Comment by David | February 28, 2008
Microsoft are not showing any good faith efforts. That’s why they are being fined over and over. I agree the money should go to the victims of the crime. i.e. the software companies most harmed by the monopoly of Microsoft. I liken Microsoft to Telstra in Australia where the company has a monopoly on telecomms, and instead of rolling out new technology it actively stifles it’s competitors to retain its monopoly. That’s why many areas in Australia you can only get dialup 56k internet. My personal opinion is keep fining Microsoft and substantially increasing the fines until they pay attention. Obviously $1.35 Billion is still only pocket change for them.
Comment by Z of Adelaide, Australia | February 28, 2008