EU preliminary ruling on Microsoft expected
InfoWorld | at | by Mike
The antitrust investigation into Microsoft is ongoing, but a preliminary ruling should be made before the end of the year, a top European Commission official said on Friday. "The investigation team is still examining concerns on issues such as tying in of related products," said Director General of Competition Philip Lowe.
The Commission, the executive body of the European Union, had accused Microsoft of tying products such as its Media Player into the sale of its Windows operating systems. By tying, or bundling, Media Player and other software with its market-dominating operating system, Microsoft could essentially force users to buy non-Windows software, and potentially thwart competitors in, for example, the applications market, the Commission suggested.