Following last year’s European Commission’s antitrust ruling against them, Microsoft agreed to create a server interoperability licence that would allow rival makers of server software to write applications that can “achieve full interoperability” with Windows client and server operating systems on “reasonable and non-discriminatory terms”. Well it seems the EC does not think that Microsoft has lived up to it’s end of the bargain. The European Commission has rejected Microsoft’s proposed server interoperability licence, saying that it contained a number of serious flaws including unjustifiably high royalty fees and the exclusion of open source vendors.
From ZDnet UK, “A spokesman for the antitrust commissioner told ZDNet UK on Friday that after consulting the industry the EC has decided the licence is unsatisfactory. If Microsoft is unable to resolve these issues it could be fined very heavily by the Commission.
“In light of the results of the market testing the Commission has strong doubts about Microsoft’s compliance with the interoperability remedy,” said the spokesman. “Microsoft now has the opportunity to get back to us to explain their point of view and if we’re still not happy we can adopt a decision fining them 5 percent of their global turnover each day that they are not compliant. Of course we hope it won’t come to that.”