ZDNet UK

CNET NETWORKS UK BUSINESS SITES:
atlarge.com
BNET UK
silicon.com
SmartPlanet.com
ZDNet.co.uk

ZDNet.co.uk - Winner of Best Business Website 2007

You are here: ZDNet.co.uk > News > IT Management

Desktop platforms Toolkit

Microsoft concedes royalties in antitrust offering

Ingrid Marson ZDNet.co.uk

Published: 06 Jun 2005 13:05 BST

The European Commission (EC) revealed some of the details of Microsoft's final server interoperability offer on Monday.

This offer follows the initial antitrust ruling on 24 March, 2004, which demanded that Microsoft disclose information to rival makers of server software to enable their products to be interoperable with Windows. In March, the EC rejected Microsoft's proposed server interoperability licence, saying it contained a number of serious flaws including unjustifiably high royalty fees and the exclusion of open source vendors.

Last week, Microsoft made its final proposal to the EC, but until now neither party was willing to reveal the details of the proposal.

The EC said on Monday that Microsoft has agreed that a category of interoperability information will be disclosed royalty-free as it is "not the result of innovation". Developers will also be able to use this information in open source products, unless Microsoft wins its appeal against the EC's antitrust ruling.

"Microsoft considers that the software source code developed by recipients of the interoperability information that implements the Microsoft protocols should not be published under a so-called 'open source licence'. The Commission nevertheless considers that, if the Court of First Instance rules in favour of the Commission in the pending application for annulment filed by Microsoft, this should be possible for the protocols that do not embody innovations," the EC said in a statement.

Over the next two weeks, the EC will market-test Microsoft's proposed server interoperability licence, before deciding whether or not the software giant has complied with last year's ruling. These market tests will evaluate the "innovative character of the protocols" and check whether the royalties Microsoft proposes to charge are "reasonable", according to the EC.