The European Commission is considering whether Microsoft
has complied with its 2004 anti-trust judgement by handing over its
complete Windows Server source code.
Microsoft was struggling to meet the EC deadline for delivering
the documentation associated with its Windows workgroup server
protocols.
The demand was designed to make it easier for Microsoft
competitors to build competing server products that could work in
Windows environments.
The documentation previously handed over was not up to the
standard required by the commission, which had threatened to fine
Microsoft £1.4m a day for failing to comply.
In an unusal move Microsoft decided to dump the entire code in
the commission's lap to settle the matter.
It reckons that by doing this its competitors will be able to
license all the code they need to build Windows interoperability
into their products.
However, the commission has already pointed out that programmers
of code normally accompany that code with documentation, so
Microsoft may not be out of the woods yet.