It now seems that a draft EC ruling, fining Microsoft and outlining how it should conduct itself in future, could come as early as next week, and that Microsoft will then sue to prevent it having to abide by its terms.
Competition commissioner Mario Monti and Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer separately issued statements yesterday saying agreement had not been possible, despite several days of last-ditch talks and months of full-time negotiation.
A settlement on the Microsoft case has not been possible, Monti said. We made substantial progress towards resolving the problems which have arisen in the past but we were unable to agree on commitments for future conduct.
Microsoft senior vice president and general counsel Brad Smith said: I believe our settlement offer would have resolved the issues of the case, not just in Europe but around the world, and right now.
Monti will now take a draft decision to the full commission next week. This decision, said to include fines in the hundreds of millions of dollars range as well as behavioral sanctions, has already been backed unanimously by the 15 EU member states.
Key among the sanctions is said to be a mandate that Microsoft split off certain bundled tools, such as Windows Media Player, which Microsoft regards as OS components but which compete with standalone third-party software.
The draft decision reportedly will force Microsoft to sell two versions of Windows in Europe – the current all-singing all-dancing version, and a discounted version with features such as WMP stripped out.
It is also reported to require Microsoft to disclose more information about its server operating system APIs to competitors, to ease interoperability.
The decision has not been published, but it seems that future conduct relates to the future bundling of applications with Windows. Microsoft plans to start bundling a personal firewall this year, and likely will bundle anti-virus and web search in future.
I had do decide what was best for competition and consumers in Europe, said Monti. I believe they will be better served with a decision that creates a strong precedent… which will establish clear principles for the future conduct of a company with such a strong dominant position in the market.
Microsoft said it’s not over yet, and suggested heavily that it will sue to block the EC ruling being enforced. Smith said: Perhaps the courts will provide the clarity that is necessary to resolve these issues.
We worked very hard to try to resolve these issues without litigation, Ballmer said. We made every possible effort to settle the case, and I hope that perhaps we can still settle the case at a later stage.
The EC has been on Microsoft’s case regarding competition issues for five years. Any lawsuits, which could end up at the European Court of Justice, would likely add more years before a resolution is found.
This article is based on material originally published by ComputerWire
