EU, Microsoft strike deal in antitrust case
European regulators announced Monday they have struck an agreement with Microsoft that will bring the company into compliance with the European Commission's 2004 ruling on the company's anticompetitive practices.
The agreement identifies three changes in Microsoft business practices that will bring the firm into compliance: competing software developers will be able to access and use Microsoft's interoperability information; royalties for use of the interoperability information will be reduced to a nominal payment of 10,000 euros ($14,348); and royalties for a worldwide license for use of its product, including patents, will be reduced to 0.4 percent from 5.95 percent.
Microsoft has been under increased pressure to come to reach an agreement with the Commission since September, when a European court ruled in the regulators' favor on key issues in their case against the company.
For more information on Monday's news, see "Microsoft finally yields to EU order."
It is doing what it is told.
As it should have done years ago.