Microsoft Submits Antitrust Proposals to Eu

EU antitrust authorities were today assessing Microsoft's proposals for complying with last year's landmark antitrust ruling.

The software giant submitted its proposals to the European commission close to a midnight deadline after being hit with a record &euro:497m (£335.6m) fine in March last year.

"We received all sorts of documents," an EU spokesman said, although he refused to discuss the contents of the proposal. Microsoft also declined to talk about any aspect of its submitted papers.

The commission last year ruled that Microsoft was using its Windows software - the world's dominant operating system for personal computers - to block competition in video and audio software.

It threatened further fines of up to 5% of Microsoft's global turnover - &euro:4m a day - if the company failed to take remedial action.

Under the imposed penalties, or remedies, Microsoft was ordered to make its ubiquitous Windows operating system available without Windows Media Player, meaning computer makers could choose to incorporate alternative software for films and music from RealNetworks and Apple.

Microsoft was also directed to share information with rival makers of servers used to run printers and retrieve files, an issue known as interoperability, and propose an acceptable trustee to monitor compliance as well.

The commission said it would take weeks to analyse Microsoft's proposals.

The issue of compliance has been a long-running sore - Microsoft was supposed to have taken action in the spring and summer of 2004. Instead, it took the commission to court in an attempt to delay implementation of the remedies until a broader challenge to the decision was settled in 2006 or later.

When a judge rebuffed Microsoft in December, the company was not ready to submit versions of the remedies acceptable to the commission.

Neelie Kroes, the competition commissioner, lost patience and issued a deadline of midnight last night for Microsoft to come up with proposals.