|
March 29, 2006
ECIS: Microsoft still not in compliance
Brussels, 29 March 2006: The European Committee for Interoperable
Systems (ECIS) will give evidence as an Interested Party in the
European Commission Hearing on Microsoft’s compliance with
the Commission’s anti-trust Decision of March 2004 that begins
tomorrow in Brussels.
In that Decision, the Commission found Microsoft to have abused
its dominant position in client PC operating systems over a period
of years in order to gain competitive advantage in the work group
server operating systems market. This has resulted in reduced innovation
and higher prices for consumers.
To end this abuse and restore effective competition in the work
group server market, the Commission Decision requires Microsoft
to disclose the information necessary for competitors to develop
fully interoperable products. In December 2004, the European Court
of First Instance ordered Microsoft to comply immediately. In December
2005 the Commission issued Microsoft with a formal Statement of
Objections for continuing failure to do so.
"There has never been any doubt about the precise nature and
scope of Microsoft’s obligations under the 2004 Decision,"
said Simon Awde, Chairman of ECIS.
"Microsoft must make available ‘protocol specifications’
of a quality that enables competitors to develop fully interoperable
work group server products. In fact, Microsoft discloses just this
kind of information when it suits its strategic interest. Web Services
is a good example. The current disclosures simply do not yet approach
this standard of quality."
"Industry wants nothing more than to achieve interoperability
as soon as possible to restore consumer choice and competition on
the merits in the work group server market. Two years after the
Commission Decision, we are still not there," Awde concluded.
|