MATTHEW NEWMAN
Sun
BRUSS E L S , B elgium— Microsoft Corp., whose software powers about 95 per cent of the world’s personal computers, gave in to European Union demands that it help competitors connect to the Windows operating system.
Microsoft agreed to license proprietary information on how Windows shares files and printers to end three years of legal wrangling over a 2004 antitrust order. The accord will help Red Hat Inc., the world’s biggest seller of Linux systems, and Sun Microsystems Inc. offer replacements for Windows.
“ These changes in Microsoft’s practices will profoundly affect software industries,” European Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes told reporters in Brussels Monday. “ I sincerely hope that we can just close this dark chapter of our relationship.”
Th e a c co rd f u r t h e r s Microsoft’s bid to resolve legal disputes worldwide that have been weighing on its shares. The company last week dropped its appeal of an antitrust decision in South Korea and Monday said it won’t challenge a court decision last month upholding the EU decision. It’s also seeking to end five years of U. S. court supervision for illegally protecting its near- monopoly on PC software.
Under the 2004 decision, Microsoft had to disclose information to rivals and sell a version of Windows without a built- in video and audio player. The company resisted licensing data to open- source developers, who give away the software’s source code, or the underlying instructions, because it would violate trade secrets and patents.
Kroes said open- source products are “ virtually the only alternative” to Microsoft, which has more than 70 per cent market share for workgroup server software. Microsoft got $ 4.5 billion in sales from its Windows Server software in its most recent fiscal year. Since 2002, the product’s sales have grown at an annual rate of 13 per cent, on average.
The agreement “ marks an important milestone” in the EU’s efforts to address Microsoft’s “ continuing abuse of its dominant position,” Thomas Vinje, a lawyer at Clifford Chance in Brussels who represents the European Committee for Interoperability Systems, which includes International Business Machines Corp. and Oracle Corp.