“The European Commission is planning to combine a new
investigation into software giant Microsoft with an existing legal
action it opened against the company in August, according to
sources familiar with Commission plans. The move would not only
speed up the legal process, it would also strengthen the
Commission’s case against Microsoft, they said.”
“Microsoft is accused of abusing its dominant position in the OS
market for PCs by giving only partial information about its
software to companies, such as Sun Microsystems, that make the
powerful servers connecting PCs together in a network. Microsoft
filed a written response to this legal action with the Commission
on Friday.”
“The separate Commission investigation examines the same issue
but is focused on Microsoft’s latest operating system. It would
normally take a couple of years for the Commission to reach the
point where it would open legal proceedings. By combining it with
the ongoing case the Commission could be in a position to rule on
all the alleged violations of EU competition law much sooner.”