A European ruling that the outfit must strip its media player from Windows chills chances of a settlement in the EU antitrust case
It's bad enough for Microsoft (MSFT ) that a European judge ruled on Dec. 22 that the software giant will have to disclose proprietary technical information to rivals and sell a version of Windows with its audio and video player stripped out. But the ruling's real damage is far more subtle. Microsoft had hoped that it would win a modest point, a setback for the European Commission that would bring it back to the negotiating table. But its victory was so sweeping that the EC has little impetus to resume talks. And that means Microsoft will continue to slog this case out in court.
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