kaled - 2:43 am on Jun 3, 2009 (gmt 0)

It seems to me that some contributors to this thread are more concerned about the EU taking decisions that affect a US company than they are concerned about what the decisions are. Well, the US justice system "bottled out" after taking a decision in 2000 to split up Microsoft because of anti-trust violations. Had that original decision been implemented, the EU would not have had to take action now.

As for the EU picking on US companies, as I mentioned in a similar thread, in the last couple of years, the US has fined British Airways several hundred million dollars, arrested UK owners of gambling sites and tried to prosecute British Aerospace for bribery (of Saudi officials). And then, of course, there was the extradition and prosecution of three NatWest bankers, and lets not forget Gary McKinnon. Also, the US harboured IRA terrorists for decades, refusing to extradite them to the UK.

If you do business in a country, you are required to follow that country's rules. So far as I am aware, the EU is not telling Microsoft how to do business anywhere other than in Europe. If Microsoft don't like it, they can, of course, withdraw from Europe, but that would doubtless cause their share price to fall by about 30% (maybe more) so, being realistic, that's not going to happen.

Kaled.