According to Reuters, the Commission proposes making Microsoft share more proprietary information with its rivals and making it unbundle its Media Player software from Windows.
Last year the company said it would use the settlement with the US Government and nine states as its template for settlement with European regulators. That settlement gave manufacturers and customers the right to hide the Media Player icon from the desktop; but it stopped short of removing the code.
The European Commission has been investigating Microsoft since 1998, when competitors accused the company of failing to disclose hardware specifications necessary to integrate non-Microsoft software into corporate networks.
Reuters does not mention any proposed fine – although the Commission has the power to fine the company up to 10% of its worldwide annual revenues. Instead, the sticking point appears to be an internal Commission review which doubts the enforceability of the proposed alternative remedies: they could be thrown out by the European Court of First Instance which last year reversed three Commission decisions in high profile competition cases, Reuters reports.
Although the Commission was expected to issue its decision by the end of 2002, no conclusion has been reached and Reuters claims that the case is still months away from a conclusion.
The Reuters story can be found here
