EU regulators today fined Microsoft 280.5 million Euros ($357 million USD) for supposedly not complying with their demands. Of course, the regulator’s demands are currently in the appeals process and the Commission dragged their heels in making their demands clear, but still, they argue that it’s Microsoft’s fault. That seems pretty unfair, and prompted MS’s General Counsel to say, rather diplomatically (imagine if Steve Jobs were in this position!), that “the real issue here is not about compliance, it’s about clarity.” Apparently, Microsoft has over 300 employees working around the clock to satisfy the EU bureaucrats who seem to know little about the tech industry (see my pervious posts on this, especially those about the product the Eurocrats designed that no one wanted to buy). What a mess.
EU to Microsoft: hand over $357 million USD