"BRUSSELS, Belgium - The European Union fined Microsoft Corp. a record $1.3 billion Wednesday for the amount it charges rivals for software information.
EU regulators said the company charged "unreasonable prices" until last October to software developers who wanted to make products compatible with the Windows desktop operating system.
The fine is the largest ever for a single company and brings to just under $2.5 billion the amount the EU has demanded Microsoft pay in a long-running antitrust dispute.
Microsoft immediately said the issues for which it was fined have been resolved and the company was making its products more open.
The fine comes less that a week after Microsoft said it would share more information about its products and technology in an effort to make it work better with rivals' software and meet the demands of antitrust regulators in Europe."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080227/ap_on_bi_ge/eu_microsoft
That's just ridiculous. A couple hundred thousand OK, even 5 or 6 million but $1.3 billion for selling the secrets that would make other programs compatible with the Windows system. If they were stupid enough to pay crazy amounts then let the stupid live in bliss.
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