TABLE OF CONTENTS Most Americans are probably aware of Microsoft s legal troubles in the United States with the federal government s antitrust division of the Justice Department and various states. However, the company s legal department has been busy handling the negative attentions of other countries around the world for more than a decade. As a result of various rulings by the European Union and countries in Asia, Microsoft made several changes to Vista. If it s not exceedingly careful, more changes may yet be required, causing the company even more legal, financial, and technical headaches.
Microsoft has a long history of legal problems in Europe, almost as lengthy and involved as the company s run-ins with federal and state governments in the United States. In July 1994, after a four-year investigation by the U.S. Justice Department, Microsoft signed a consent decree governing the licensing of Windows. At the same time, the company made a similar agreement with the European Commission, which allowed the European Union to keep an eye on Microsoft s compliance for the next six years. Unfortunately for Microsoft, the European Union took its responsibilities very seriously.
A little more than three years later, Microsoft was in hot water with the European Commission again (as it was also with the Justice Department in the United States). On October 16, 1997, the European Union announced that it was opening another probe of the company to investigate whether it was illegally leveraging...
