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$899 million euros or $1.4 billion is definitely a huge sum of money and it seems like Microsoft would not just want to lose that amount over an anti-trust ruling that the EU has slapped Microsoft in February 2007. The fine was a result of a case filed against Microsoft for failing to comply with a 2004 ruling. So, Microsoft is appealing the EU ruling and hoping against all hopes that the EU would heed its plea to overturn the ruling or at least reduce the fine.

If you recall, sometime in 2004, the EU slapped Microsoft with a $768 million fine after it failed to comply with an anti-trust ruling that ordered Microsoft to provide rival companies with data that would allow their servers to connect to the Windows platform which was the predominantly used operating systems in majority of the PCs in 2004. In return, Microsoft is allowed to charge reasonable royalties for giving rival companies access to its Windows Platform.

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Perhaps the European Commission feels that Microsoft’s song of interoperability is all talk. That’s why it did not hesitate to fine the software giant with a hefty 899 million Euros or $1.35 billion for failure to comply with its antitrust decision.

Apparently, Microsoft had abused its dominant 95% market share in the EU market by using high prices to block software competition. There are also allegations that it tied its Windows Media Player and web browser Internet Explorer to Windows. In 2004, Microsoft had failed to comply with EU’s order to open up its key software to competitors. To date, this is the first and the biggest penalty for such violation. 

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Microsoft probably have a parking space permanently reserved outside the European Commission due to the amount of anti-competition investigations they have had thrown at them. So guess what? Yep, two more investigations are on the way, the first to look at whether Microsoft unfairly ties its Explorer Internet browser to its Windows operating system, the second will look at the interoperability of Microsoft software with rival products.

This inquiry follows on from complaints made by Opera which we covered at the time, and the pan-European software-makers group European Committee for Interoperable Systems.

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I4U is reporting that the following PS3 games have a March 30th release date for European countries: Warhawk, Resistance: Fall of Man, Formula 1, Gran Turismo HD, Eye of Judgement, Heavenly Sword, Genji 2, and Killzone.

The catch is that the PS3 has yet to be released in Europe. It was supposed to be released back in September (like in the US and Japan), but that was eventually pushed back until November, and the last we were told was March of 2007. If we believe that they will hold to their word and actually release the console within the time period given, “March,” the 30th seems like a best bet. They are not going to release games prior to the console and Sony is having enough supply issues that it could not hurt them to use the entire month to build product.

Still no release date [Amazon UK]

The Redmont-based software giant is reported to have initiated 129 lawsuits in Europe and the Middle East in its effort to help law enforcement curb phishing. That’s very good of Microsoft, playing a very nobel role as a corporate citizen. For those who are not yet aware, Microsoft had launched a Global Phishing Enforcement Initiative in March, as part of its effort to combat phishing, an online trick that has mushroomed over the last few years, with the number of attempts to dupe citizens into handing over their bank account details almost doubling in the first half of 2006 to 157,000, according to a recent report from security software vendor Symantec.

On another front, the latest IE7 browser by Microsoft also incorporates an anti-phishing feature which gives out warning to users of a potential phishing website. But the anti-phishing feature has contributed to a somewhat negative effect when it wrongly flags legitimate websites as suspected phising sites. Reports have been submitted by the website owners to Microsoft but I wonder if there were responses by Microsoft on the false alarms. I was just wondering, would Microsoft be liable for phishing false alarms? Anyone want to test the water?

Read [MSNBC] Via [Google Group]
Read [CJCM and IT]

The 599 euro (£400) HD-E1 will be released two days before rival Blu-ray players in Europe, only a slight lead as compared to the two month head-start the format had here in the states. BD will of course also be available in Sony’s upcoming PlayStation 3 which will be out in the not so distant future. A second Toshiba HD-DVD player will be released in December.

Prices for Toshiba’s first wave of HD-DVD machines have been set considerably higher than in the US, where the first HD-DVD machines were released in April, and some retail for a little as $499 (£260, 390 euros). By contrast, Samsung’s first Blu-ray player was priced at $999 (£524, 760 euros) in the US.

Read [Electronics Weekly]

I was in Europe last spring and came back completely broke. My losses did have something to do with the less than optimal exchange rates but I have been consistently blaming my cell phone (that rate are astronomical).

EU officials are finally turning up the heat on European carriers. A new proposal would make it free to receive a call when abroad in addition to being charged at “home rates” when making an in-country call. Government figures show that currently, a 4-minute call received from the UK while in Italy results in a steep £3.80 ($6.65) tariff from O2 or £3.04 ($5.32) with Vodafone. The proposal has the support of 25 nations with EU commissioner, Viviane Reding, stating that the new pricing could be in effect by summer of 2007 if the European Parliament and national governments moved quickly.

Read [Engadget Mobile]