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EU: Vista May Violate Antitrust Rules
EU Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes has written to Microsoft Corp. CEO
Steve Ballmer to outline EU concerns that the new Vista operating system could
break antitrust rules, EU spokesman Jonathan Todd said Wednesday.
Todd said regulators were worried that Vista's new functions would mean customers
would not be offered a real choice on software packages.
"We're concerned about the possibility that the next Vista operating system
will include various elements which are currently available separately from
Microsoft or other companies," he told reporters.
He highlighted Vista's integrated Internet search, digital rights management
and software that would create fixed document formats comparable to Adobe's
pdf.
There is no investigation into Vista at this stage, he said.