The European review has worked on different lines from its American counterpart. While US prosecutors focused largely on the browser market, Europeans have alleged that Microsoft unfairly tied its multimedia software into the Windows operating system and that the company has also made it difficult for rivals' server software to work on Windows-based machines.
Regulators have done extensive investigations, including multiple interviews with many of Microsoft's competitors such as RealNetworks. In a preliminary review released last August, European Commission officials said they believed the company's actions remained problematic.
"In light of this evidence, the commission's preliminary conclusion is that Microsoft's abuses are still ongoing," officials said.
Since that time, settlement negotiations have been ongoing. According to recent reports, commissioners may settle for allowing big PC makers to choose what multimedia software to install on new computers, instead of forcing Microsoft to pull Media Player out of Windows altogether.
Microsoft has kept its comments on the issue to a minimum. "We continue to be actively engaged with the commission in hopes of coming to an amicable resolution of the matter," said company spokesman Jim Desler.
A new antitrust review may also be pending in Japan, where government investigators raided Microsoft offices late last month. If a new examination is in fact pending, it would be the third such review of the company's practices in that country.
Yesterday's battle?
Regardless of remedies, a European ruling against Microsoft will be undeniably painful. At the very least, the company faces a fine in the hundreds of millions of dollars, according to reports.
But the decision may be too little, too late to have a major impact on the future direction of the digital multimedia market.
