Europe's most important antitrust action in the software field - was the European Commission's case against Microsoft. The - Commission launched the case in 2004. FSFE participated as a - "third party", providing expert input on Free Software, + was the European Commission's case against Microsoft, running + from 2004 to 2007. FSFE participated as a + third party, providing expert input on Free Software, interoperability and competition. We worked closely with the Samba team, which develops a Free Software alternative to - Microsoft's proprietary workgroup server. - - Our most important achievement was to make sure that Free - Software developers could actually use the interoperability - information, which Microsoft was forced to release, to build - competing products. + Microsoft's proprietary workgroup server. +
++ The European Commission imposed a record fine of EUR 497 million on + Microsoft. In 2012, the European Court of Justice ruled that + Microsoft would have to pay another EUR 860 million for failing + to comply with the Commission's decision.
-- FSFE played two key roles in this case. We represented the - interests of Free Software developers. In our official role as - Intervener, we pushed the European Commission to reject any royalty - requirements that would be incompatible with Free Software. We also - argued constantly for the publication of useful technical - documentation and against lock-out of Free Software based on arbitrary - manipulations of formats and standards. + FSFE played two key roles in this case. We represented + the interests of Free Software developers. In our + official role as Intervener, we persuaded the European + Commission to reject any royalty requirements that + would be incompatible with Free Software. We also + argued constantly for the publication of useful + technical documentation and against lock-out of Free + Software based on arbitrary manipulations of formats + and standards. +
++ FSFE's most important achievement was to make sure that Free + Software developers could actually use the interoperability + information which Microsoft was forced to release to build + competing products.
- Second, FSFE was a public interest organisation which - could not be bought - off. The case began with many companies giving testimony of Microsoft's - breaches of antitrust regulation, but one by one these companies made - deals with Microsoft and withdrew from the case. FSFE and SIIA were the - only two organisations that pursued this case from start to finish. We - were later joined by ECIS, who did extraordinary + FSFE was one of only two public interest organisation which + Microsoft could not buy off. The case began with many + companies giving testimony of Microsoft's breaches of + antitrust regulation, but one by one these companies + made deals with Microsoft and withdrew from the + case. FSFE and SIIA were the only two organisations + that pursued this case from start to finish. We were + later joined by ECIS, who did extraordinary work. Without this sustained support, the Commission - would probably not pursued the case as decisively as it did. + would probably not pursued the case as decisively as + it did.
- At the heart of this case was that the European Commission would require - Microsoft to publish interoperability information. Comparable to - dictionaries and grammar books for human languages, this type of - information is necessary for non-Microsoft software, such as Samba - running on GNU/Linux, to communicate and function fully within existing - client-server Microsoft networks. -
-- Previously, the Samba developers were forced to - painstakingly gather this information by protocol - analysis alone. The interoperability information was not secret - because it was valuable. It was valuable only because - it was secret. + At the heart of this case was that the European + Commission would require Microsoft to publish + interoperability information. This type of information + is necessary for non-Microsoft software, such as Samba + running on GNU/Linux, to communicate and function + fully within existing client-server Microsoft + networks. The interoperability information was not + secret because it was valuable. It was valuable only + because it was secret.
- Information has now been published and is being used by the developers - of Samba and many other projects to improve network interoperability - for Free Software applications. This facilitates migration to Free - Software. The court rulings have also set important precedents - regarding unacceptable business practices. + Information has now been published and is being used + by the developers of Samba and many other projects to + improve network interoperability for Free Software + applications. This facilitates migration to Free + Software. The court rulings have also set important + precedents as to what business practices are + considered acceptable.