re-posted from Sarai [Commons-Law] list. Link to a BBC article published today here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4649348.stm and an older BBC article from December which might help give the background on why Internet Explorer (TM) doesn't work very well with this website : http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4555378.stm

Microsoft to give access to code

Microsoft has said it will give rival software
companies access to parts of the source code for its
Windows operating system.
The concession was made in response to a 2004 European
Union (EU) anti-trust ruling which ordered the company
to share its code with competitors.

It came three weeks ahead of the EU's compliance
deadline, which threatened fines of 2m euros (£1.4m;
$2.4m) a day.

The code will help rivals make their software
compatible with Microsoft's.

"Today we are putting our most valuable intellectual
property on the table so we can put technical
compliance issues to rest and move forward with a
serious discussion about the substance of the case,"
said Microsoft's legal chief, Brad Smith.

Record fine

The compliance deadline was set in December when the
European Commission said that Microsoft's offer of
12,000 pages of documentation and 500 hours of free
technical support was not adequate.

The landmark 2004 ruling said the world's biggest
software company was guilty of abusing its position
and hit Microsoft with a record 497m euros fine,
telling it to open up its operating systems.

Microsoft said that the latest concession went "far
beyond" the 2004 decision.

It maintains that it has tried to comply with the EU's
demands, but says that Brussels keeps changing it
guidelines.

The EU's second highest court, the European Court of
First Instance, will hear Microsoft's appeal against
the 2004 ruling in April.