Microsoft spends millions exorcising Media Player for Europe

GristyMcFisty used our news submit to tell us about this information
concerning Media Player 10 that he read over at the Register. For whatever
reason, in the United States we have not heard much complaining yet. Of course,
the server issue is very important as well, but for us at CD Freaks, we are more
interested in the impact Windows Media player will have on competing products.

Having said that, last spring Mario Monti and the
Competition Commission ruled that Microsoft abused its "near monopoly" position
with both items. Redmond was handed a whopping fine of €497m. In
addition, Microsoft was ordered to offer a version of Windows without Media
Player and provide more open access to its server protocols.

Microsoft is ready to comply with demands that it alters its Windows software in line with the ruling from the European Commission. Microsoft legal eagle Brad Smith told Forbes magazine that Microsoft has spent millions of dollars preparing a version of Windows without Windows Media Player (WMP). He is still hopeful that the two sides can find a negotiated settlement. And he will argue that Microsoft would suffer irreparable damage if the EC stands by its earlier decision but said the company was ready to obey. He told Reuters: "We"ll be ready to comply with whatever the court orders". Microsoft is also preparing evidence that further opening up of server protocols would damage its intellectual property. The case is due back in court on Thursday and Friday this week. Judge Bo Vesterdorf is expected to release judgement within the next two months. Vesterdorf can either insist that punishments and remedies should be applied immediately or should wait until after Microsoft"s full appeal is heard - a process likely to take years.

Does Microsoft have an unfair advantage or not? They do
offer online stores the opportunity to be listed within the player, along with
their own offerings. We can read in the article, that Microsoft intends to
point to the success of Apple's iTunes service to prove there is competition in
the market for digital music. 

While it's true that Apple does have a fantastic success with
iTunes, it is interesting to note that Microsoft was playing rope a dope
again during that meteoric rise. In fact, there was little to no
competition for some time while Apple tore up the world with it's iPod. Is
it possible Microsoft merely waited for some competition to
develop before they jumped in? If you think about it, they probably knew what
was coming legally. Plus, they could have someone else promote the idea while
they waited and focused on developing their own product. Were they thinking
that far ahead? Love them or hate them, Microsoft is fascinating to watch and
hard to second guess. Do they have a portable player
yet?

Source: The Register