EC may levy more antitrust fines on Microsoft

ZDNet and the BBC are carrying stories suggesting that the European Commission (EC) may levy further antitrust fines against Microsoft in their ongoing battle against the software giant.

The EC claimed that Microsoft are trying to charge too much for their interoperability technology - opening up the proprietary Windows operating system for third parties to take advantage of. Microsoft have stated that the threat of further fines is unreasonable, but the EC are standing their ground:

"In the 50 years of European antitrust policy, it's the first time we've been confronted with a company that has failed to comply with an antitrust decision," a Commission spokesman said.