Microsoft posts EU response online
Microsoft has posted its response to the EU's charges (PDF) that it failed to comply with an antitrust directive, AP reports.
Companies usually keep their defense secret, but Microsoft spokesman Jack Evans said the company released the non-confidential version of the report out of concerns the entire regulatory process has not been transparent enough.
The document outlines some of the ways in which Microsoft believes that EU regulators have changed or have not been clear about the expectations they have for the company, Evans said. It also highlights the growing tensions between the software giant and the European regulators.
"We think that this is necessary to ensure that we get a fair hearing," Evans said.
In a 78-page response, plus dozens of pages of appendices, Microsoft argues that it has complied.
Microsoft is fully committed to compliance with the Decision and has taken extraordinary measures to insure that it is in compliance. Hundreds of Microsoft employees and contractors have worked for more than 30,000 hours to create over 12,000 pages of detailed technical documents that are available for license today. In addition, Microsoft has offered to provide licensees with 500 hours of technical support and has made its source code related to all the relevant technologies available under a reference license. These and other steps Microsoft has taken to ensure compliance are detailed below in this Response. While the sufficiency and adequacy of Microsoft’s technical documentation standing alone has been challenged in the Statement of Objections dated 21 December 2005 (the “Statement of Objections”), this Response demonstrates in detail why those objections are not well-founded. But the Statement of Objections does not properly consider the entirety of Microsoft’s compliance efforts, which are considerable, and Microsoft’s commitment to continue working with the Trustee, the Commission, and any licensees to ensure that the information Microsoft has prepared for license in compliance with the Decision is useful and complete.