Europe's antitrust case against Microsoft is stuck between a rock and a hard place. The rock: Mario Monti, who this fall will complete a noteworthy five-year term as the European Commission's competition commissioner. Before he steps down, Monti is determined to bring his long-running skirmish with the world's largest software maker to a denouement. It boils down to requiring Microsoft, by sanction or settlement, to unbundle Windows Media Player from the Windows operating system.
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