Inicio Tecnología. Microsoft hace cambios a Vista en Europa y Corea del Sur (Inglés)

Microsoft hace cambios a Vista en Europa y Corea del Sur (Inglés)

BRUSSELS/FIESOLE, Italy (Reuters) – Microsoft Corp. said it had made changes to its new operating system Vista after what it called «constructive dialogue» with the European Commission and South Korea over regulatory concerns.

«Microsoft agreed to make a number of changes to Windows Vista in response to guidance the company received from the European Commission,» the company cited its general counsel Brad Smith as saying.

He confirmed that the software maker had also incorporated changes to Vista in South Korea to comply with its legal obligations there, Microsoft said in a statement.

After a years-long antitrust case against Microsoft and a record fine of close to half a billion euros (almost $630 million) for anti-competitive behavior, EU Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes warned Microsoft last March that she had concerns about Vista.

The European Commission was worried that the operating system would package features such as an Internet search function like Google’s and software similar to that of Adobe’s «pdf» fixed document formats.

The «bundling» of such software in an operating system that is used by more than 90 percent of the world’s PCs may create a disincentive for customers to then buy Adobe’s and Google’s products.

Microsoft also plans to tie-in security features with Vista, a move that raised concerns at companies such as McAfee and Symantec, which again offer similar products.

In early September, the software company raised the possibility of delaying the launch of Vista in Europe alone on the concerns of the Commission, saying it was unsure what the regulator required of its new product.

But on Friday, Kroes said Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Balmer had told her it would not delay shipping Vista.

«He announced that they have the intention to ship it (Vista) globally,» she told reporters on the sidelines of a competition conference in Italy.

In a separate statement, the Commission said it would closely monitor the effects Vista had on the market and any complaints relating to it, reiterating that it was not up to the EU executive to give Vista a «green light».

The Commission has long said it is up to a company to ensure that its products comply with European Union laws.

«He (Ballmer) was aware that he shouldn’t ask me if I could give a green light to it (Vista) and rightly so,» Kroes said of her conversation with the Microsoft executive.

«Microsoft has to be aware that they have a responsibility to take into account the European regulations and European rules and I am expecting that they are doing that,» she said.

The stand-off between the software-maker and the Commission is the latest in a lengthy spat between the two.

In 2004, the Commission found Microsoft had abused its market dominance in audiovisual software players and office servers. It forced the U.S. firm to strip out Windows Media Player from its ubiquitous operating system.

The Commission levied a record 497 million euro fine. In July, EU regulators fined the company a further 280.5 million euros for defying the ruling, which required it to share information on its servers with rivals.

Microsoft faces a further fine of up to 3 million euros a day if found still not in compliance with the ruling.

Fuente: Reuters, Sabina Zawadzki y David Lawsky