According to reports the new version will be called “Windows XP
Home Edition N” – a name that has found more favour with the
European competition authorities than Microsoft’s 10 previous
suggestions.
These included Windows XP Reduced Media Edition, which the
Commission felt was likely to discourage purchasers from buying the
Media Player-free software. On the approved title, the “N” stands
for “Not with Media Player”.
The agreement is the latest step taken by Microsoft to comply
with sanctions imposed upon it last year, following a Commission
ruling that the software giant broke competition law by leveraging
its near monopoly in the market for PC operating systems onto the
markets for work group server operating systems and for media
players.
The company was fined €497 million; ordered to disclose to
competitors, the specifications (but not the source code) for its
client-to-server and server-to-server communications protocols; and
required to offer for sale in Europe a version of Windows without
Windows Media Player, although it can also market the operating
system with Windows Media Player.
However, in past weeks the Commission has expressed concern that
Microsoft is not adequately complying with all the sanctions and
has hinted that the software giant could be fined a sum that
equates to up to £5 million a day.
Speaking to Reuters, Microsoft’s senior European lawyer, Horacio
Gutierrez, said, "We have some misgivings about the chosen name, as
we fear it may cause confusion for consumers about the product, but
we will adopt the Commission's name in order to move forward and
accelerate the pace of the implementation process”.
