EU-DIGEST

The EU's New Heat on Microsoft - by Jennifer L. Schenker

Will Microsoft's struggle with the European Union's antitrust watchdog never end? The announcement Feb. 27 that the European Commission is slapping more than $1.3 billion in new fines on the software maker (MFST) is the clearest signal yet that the battle between Redmond and Brussels is far from over. This time, the commission is again penalizing the company for failing to comply with a 2004 order to reduce what it charges rivals for access to the information they need to make their products work better with Microsoft's market-dominant software. Combined with earlier fines against the software giant totaling more than $600 million, the EU has now fined Microsoft nearly $2 billion in a clash that began nearly decade ago and culminated with a landmark court case in September. The new European investigations come as Microsoft finds itself in danger of seeing EU governments effectively ban its software to create documents. The European Commission and its member states have been mulling a mandate that all government documents be created in the Open Document Format (ODF), an open source competitor to the proprietary format used in Microsoft Word.Microsoft's attempts to push its own new document format—which it claims is open and critics say is not—is coming under the scrutiny of antitrust authorities in Brussels and could lead to yet another legal showdown.

Note EU-Digest: "Microsoft was the first company in 50 years of EU competition policy that the Commission has had to fine for failure to comply with an antitrust decision," Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes said in a statement. For years after the decision Microsoft said it was making every effort to comply with the Commission's orders. "Talk is cheap, flouting the rules is expensive," Kroes said. "We don't want talk and promises. We want compliance." Good job Mrs. Neelie Kroes, not only Microsoft competitors but also European consumers will benefit.

Labels: Economy, EU, Microsoft, Open Source

Microsoft Rivals Skeptical Of Software Maker's Openness Pledge -- Paul McDougall

"The world needs a permanent change in Microsoft's behavior, not just another announcement," said the European Committee for Interoperable Systems, which counts among its members Sun Microsystems, Adobe, IBM, Oracle, Red Hat, and several other vendors that compete with Microsoft. ECIS has long accused Microsoft of deliberately withholding, or overcharging for, the protocols members need to make their products work with the Windows operating system and other Microsoft software. Europe's competition watchdog last month launched two new antitrust investigations into Microsoft's business practices following a complaint from ECIS. The European Commission is eyeing the possibility that Microsoft is violating monopoly laws by failing to make its products interoperable with competitors' offerings and by illegally bundling its Internet Explorer Web browser with the Windows operating system. Partly in response to those complaints, Microsoft said Thursday that it's adopting four new "interoperability principles" to guide its business practices.

Labels: EU, Microsoft

Europe Goes for Microsoft's Jugular - by Jennifer LeCclair

In one of the two EC antitrust investigations, Opera Software has complained that Microsoft illegally ties Internet Explorer to its Windows OS. The European Commission also cited antitrust allegations that Microsoft shackles other software products to its OS, including desktop search and Windows Live. This round of investigations falls under two separate categories of alleged infringements of European Commission Treaty rules. The first case deals with interoperability. The second relates to tying separate software products together. Specifically, Internet Explorer and Microsoft Office have come under scrutiny. "Recent press reports suggested Microsoft reached a grand settlement with the European Commission, and we expected it to be quiet for a while. Then we look up and a new investigation is under way," said Keith Hylton, a professor of law at the Boston University School of Law. "I was surprised to see a new investigation so soon."

Labels: EU, Microsoft

US Medical Services: Putting Count Dracula in Charge of the Bloodbank? Microsoft Wants Your Medical Records

Microsoft, the $51 billion computer-software giant, is not satisfied with simply being the major systems provider for most computers in America -- it also wants to hold your personal medical records, and everyone else's in the country. The Redmond, Wash.-based firm started by Bill Gates sees this as good business, and even plans to offer advertising along with computerized searches of your records. "Our goal is to become an advertising powerhouse," Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer tells Advertising Age. "Today, we're the No. 3 seller of Internet ads. We're determined to allocate the talent, the resources, the money, and the innovation to be the pre-eminent software provider for advertisers, publishers, and agencies. We have all the pieces we need to succeed."

Microsoft says today’s health care record keeping in the US is messy and not ready for the digital world. The company plans to do something about it.

Labels: Medical, Microsoft, US

For the complete report from Ars Technica click on this link

Microsoft finally in "full compliance" with 2004 EU antitrust ruling - by Eric Bangema

Microsoft has ended its multiyear fight against the European Union's antitrust findings and is agreeing to comply fully with the European Commission's remedies in the wake of last month's ruling by the EU Court of First Instance upholding the 2004 finding that Microsoft had abused its dominant market position in Europe. EC Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes welcomed the move, saying that the company has done what is necessary to "ensure full compliance with the 2004 Decision."

Although the software giant had paid the €497 million fine and had released Windows XP N, a unliked and unwanted version of Windows XP with no media-playing functionality, the issue of adequately documenting and licensing its server protocols remained a sticking point. Fed up with what it believed to be Microsoft's inflexibility on the licensing terms, the EC imposed a €3 million fine for each day the company was out of compliance. According to the EC, Microsoft has finally come up with acceptable solutions for licensing the server protocols to third parties, using two separate licensing models. The first is a "No Patent Agreement" license, which will give companies access to interoperability information without an additional license for the patents Microsoft believes are necessary. The royalty rate for such a license is €10,000, a figure the EC deems acceptable. The license will also be "compatible with the open source business model" and will provide a means for effectively addressing disputes over the accuracy and thoroughness of the documentation.

Labels: EU, Microsoft

Microsoft Changes PC Files Without Permission - by Greg Keizer

Microsoft Corp. has started updating files on computers running Windows XP and Vista, even when users have explicitly disabled the operating systems' automatic update feature, researchers said today. Scott Dunn, an editor at the "Windows Secrets" newsletter, said that nine files in XP and Vista -- but not the same files in each operating system -- have been changed by Windows Update, the Microsoft update mechanism, without displaying the usual notification or permission dialog box. The files, said Dunn, are related to the XP and Vista versions of Windows Update (WU) itself.

Dunn identified the changed files on Vista as wuapi.dll, wuapp.exe, wuauclt.exe, wuaueng.dll, wucltux.dll, wudriver.dll, wups.dll, wups2.dll and wuwebv.dll. And on XP SP2, he said, the changed files were cdm.dll, wuapi.dll, wuauclt.exe, wuaucpl.cpl, wuaueng.dll, wucltui.dll, wups.dll, wups2.dll, and wuweb.dll. In the past, Dunn noted, any changes to WU have been presented to the user for approval. "They at least warned you in advance," he said.

Labels: EU, Microsoft

Forget about the WGA! 20+ Windows Vista Features and Services Harvest User Data for Microsoft - From your machine! - by Marius Oiaga

Are you using Windows Vista? Then you might as well know that the licensed operating system installed on your machine is harvesting a healthy volume of information for Microsoft. In this context, a program such as the Windows Genuine Advantage is the last of your concerns. In fact, in excess of 20 Windows Vista features and services are hard at work collecting and transmitting your personal data to the Redmond company.

Microsoft makes no secret about the fact that Windows Vista is gathering information. End users have little to say, and no real choice in the matter. The company does provide both a Windows Vista Privacy Statement and references within the End User License Agreement for the operating system. Combined, the resources paint the big picture over the extent of Microsoft's end user data harvest via Vista.

Labels: Europe, Microsoft, Vista

The French Say Au Revoir to Microsoft Software - David Garrett

The French parliament has said au revoir to Microsoft Relevant Products/Services. Starting in June of next year, French deputies will use desktops and servers running Linux, Mozilla's Firefox Web browser, and OpenOffice.org, a free open-source alternative to Microsoft's Office software.

For day-to-day documents, French members of parliament and their staff will use OpenOffice.org, currently in version 2.0.4 and designed to compete directly with Microsoft's Office System.

Labels: France, Linux, Microsoft

Is Microsoft Update Infecting You?

Tens of millions of Microsoft users get their security updates from the Microsoft Update service. But a researcher at security firm Symantec (Quote) is alleging that users could potentially get something more than they bargained for.

A Symantec researcher said that Microsoft Update, which includes a component called Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS), could potentially be used by hackers to bypass security measures and attack users' PCs. BITS runs in the background on a Windows PC as an asynchronous download service for patch updates.

A Microsoft spokesperson confirmed to internetnews.com that Microsoft is aware of public reports that BITS is being used by TrojanDownloader:Win32/Jowspry to bypass policy-based firewalls in order to install additional malware.

Labels: Computer industry, Microsoft