Microsoft: No One Wants EU Windows

Says Version Of Operating System Without Media Player Isn't Selling

(AP) 
Bellis claimed that stripping out Media Player from Windows XP created a sub-standard product. Removing some key code meant that XP N could not listen to CDs or play music from providers like Yahoo Inc. or Napster, Bellis said.

The hearing, expected to take five days, will focus on Microsoft's behavior in the late 1990s and will focus on two main issues — Microsoft's bundling of Media Player as a core part of its operating system and the Commission's order that Microsoft share information and code with competitors to help them make software that worked smoothly with Windows.

EU regulators will use evidence from RealNetworks Inc. on the media player issue and IBM Corp., Novell Inc., Oracle Corp. and Sun Microsystems Inc. on systems compatibility.

None of those companies are currently involved in the legal battle, although they are members of two broad industry coalitions — ECIS and the Software & Information Industry Association — that back the Commission.

ECIS lawyer Thomas Vinje says Microsoft vs. the European Commission has the potential to set the "rules of the road" for the software giant before it launches the latest version of its desktop software, Vista, which is due in stores early next year.

The group filed a new complaint with regulators in February, and Vinje says Vista will try to squeeze out rivals by bundling security, search engine and office functions.

"The bottom line in this case is about the future, whether consumers will have the choice of that innovation in future or whether Microsoft will be allowed to contain competition and innovation," he said.

Microsoft, however, says it must be allowed to enhance its programs and guard its intellectual property.

"The ability to innovate is important for the success of any company and for the economic success of any country," said Microsoft lawyer Brad Smith before the hearing. "We think that the facts will show that there is strong competition and consumer choice."

Smith said the EU court's decision, which isn't expected for a year to 18 months, would reverberate across the industry, regardless of the outcome.

"The impact of this case goes far beyond Microsoft," he said.

The EU said in December that Microsoft has not done enough to help its rivals develop compatible software and threatened Microsoft with daily fines of up to $2.4 million, backdated to Dec. 15, unless it complied. It has not yet decided whether it will levy these extra fines.