Earlier this week Microsoft promised to be friendlier towards open-source software in what was basically an attempt to suck up to the EU, however, in a recent development, it turns out that the EU was not done bashing Microsoft over the head for all the stuff they did in the past. To resolve this situation, the EU has issued a big fat bill for $1.35 billion (many times more than previous fines) to cover all the stuff they never got a chance to investigate. With this settled, the EU will be able to focus on investigating Microsoft for whatever they think of next.

OK, the EU is not really just giving Microsoft a bill for all the stuff they never got to investigate, but, according to Reuters, they did just fine Microsoft a record amount just days after Microsoft issued a press release presumably intended to suck up to the EU. The Reuters article says the real reason for the fine is ”using high prices to discourage software competition.” Although I cannot claim to understand it entirely, I gather this specific case has to do with not making interoperability information avaliable enough or cheap enough and thus discoraging competition. Of course it could just be the EU wants their money before Microsoft goes broke buying Yahoo.

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