Microsoft offers EU concessions on server protocols

BRUSSELS - Microsoft Corp has sent a letter to the European Commission offering its response to the EU executive's demands that it share data with rival makers of servers, a Microsoft spokesman said on Monday.

Last year the Commission found Microsoft abused the near-monopoly of its Windows operating system to crush competition, and ordered it to share "interoperability " information with rival makers of servers, used in offices to operate printers and access files.

The Commission, which policies competition in the European Union, also ordered the software giant to make a version of Windows without its Windows Media Player audiovisual software and fined it almost 500 million euros ($927.47 million).

A Microsoft spokesman said the company had sent the Commission a letter last week detailing its response to the Commission's demands over servers.

"Of the 26 areas where the Commission had concerns, we have accepted and offered proposals to address the concerns on 20 of these issues," he said.

"Of the six that remain, Microsoft also feels it has made significant progress but on those it will be a matter of working through them with the Commission as soon as possible."

Microsoft's proposals include extending the evaluation period for potential licensees, lowering evaluation fees, and offering custom versions to customers who do not want to buy an "all-in-one" licence.

It has also offered to charge lower, more flexible royalties and has proposed a way to distribute protocols alongside open-source programmes without giving away its own intellectual property secrets, the spokesman said.

Commission spokesman Jonathan Todd confirmed it had received the letter on Thursday.

"We are studying it carefully," Todd said.

Microsoft last week also agreed to adopt a name for the stripped-down version of Windows ordered by the Commission, and would make technical and documentation changes demanded by the Commission.

- REUTERS