EU competition watchdogs met on Monday with officials from EU states seeking their accord to slap sanctions on software giant Microsoft for abusing its dominant market position, sources said.
An advisory panel of EU anti-trust experts held the meetings — to be followed by final talks next Monday — ahead of a decision by the European Commission scheduled for March 24.
A source close to the talks said that EU competition commissioner Mario Monti ”should get the support” of member states, who rarely overturn a decision by the European Commission.
Although the panel could recommend fines totalling hundreds of millions of euros, Monti has said he is mostly interested in market remedies to redress the distorting effects of monopoly behavior.
In Microsoft’s case, the sources said, this could take the form of a requirement that it detach the Windows Media Player from the Windows operating system used on 90% of personal computers.
The media player handles sound and visual data, such as radio and TV streams and MP3 files.
One of the main complaints against Microsoft is that it squeezes rivals out of the market, such as Netscape in the past for internet browsers, or Realnetworks and Apple for media player.
According to the sources, the EU anti-trust experts could require Microsoft to deliver a version of Windows to computer manufacturers that does not include the media player, allowing the makers to install the RealOne or Apple QuickTime players instead.
The commission also has been investigating allegations that Microsoft is seeking to drive out competition in the market for low-level servers that provide email and intranet services to multiple users, and handle large filing and printing tasks. – Sapa-AFP