EU Close to Fining Microsoft
Over web browser access of its customers
The clock is ticking on Microsoft. Reuters is reporting today that regulators in Europe intend to levy a potentially hefty fine on the software company in connection with a long-running antitrust case.
Quoting a couple of people described as being "familiar with the matter," Reuters says the fine might be "significant."
Microsoft has been in hot water with the European Commission for some time. Last fall, regulators said the company reneged on a 2009 promise to give Windows consumers more choice among rival Internet browsers. The latest bit of upset has to do with Microsoft's failure to include a "browser choice" screen for European users in the latest version of Windows 7 last year. At the time, Microsoft said it was an oversight, blaming a technical error which missed the update in February 2011 in store shelf copies of the operating system. All told, roughly 28 million European users may have been affected.
Hide Comments (0)
Editor's Note: As of February 29, 2024, commenting privileges on reason.com posts are limited to Reason Plus subscribers. Past commenters are grandfathered in for a temporary period. Subscribe here to preserve your ability to comment. Your Reason Plus subscription also gives you an ad-free version of reason.com, along with full access to the digital edition and archives of Reason magazine. We request that comments be civil and on-topic. We do not moderate or assume any responsibility for comments, which are owned by the readers who post them. Comments do not represent the views of reason.com or Reason Foundation. We reserve the right to delete any comment and ban commenters for any reason at any time. Comments may only be edited within 5 minutes of posting. Report abuses.
Please
to post commentsMute this user?
Ban this user?
Un-ban this user?
Nuke this user?
Un-nuke this user?
Flag this comment?
Un-flag this comment?