Microsoft Fined $1.3B by the EU Over Antitrust Non-Compliance

Microsoft gets fined to the tune of €899 million for failing to charge a reasonable rate for licensing communication protocol information to third parties.  The EU required Microsoft to open up their licensing of these protocols as part of the 2004 antitrust ruling issued against the company.  Microsoft songed and danced that one for about four years before coming up with a reasonable fee for European customers.  Now that the dollar has dropped to an exchange rate of about $1.50 per Euro, that's about $1.3 billion by the current exchange rate.  MS has three months to hope the exchange rate improves.  Either that, or charge more for Vista.

The story is here, and Forbes has a nice Q&A on the fine.