EU warns of Vista antitrust concerns

BRUSSELS, Belgium — Microsoft's new Vista operating system is still months away from hitting the market, but the European Union already has concerns the software could break antitrust rules.

EU Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes has written to Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer to outline concerns that Vista's new functions will mean customers will not be offered a real choice on software packages, EU spokesman Jonathan Todd said Wednesday.

"We're concerned about the possibility that the next Vista operating system will include various elements which are currently available separately either from Microsoft or other companies," he told reporters.

He highlighted Vista's integrated Internet search, digital-rights management used to protect copyrights and software that would create fixed-document formats comparable to Adobe's pdf.

He said Kroes' letter to Ballmer came after Microsoft asked regulators to set out any possible antitrust problems with Vista, stressing that it was not the start of any formal probe into the new operating system.

"We assume that Microsoft has its own interests at heart. It wants to launch another product without having to worry about the [European] Commission instituting various actions under antitrust law," he said. "The commission's concern is that computer manufacturers or consumers might be prevented from having a proper choice between different software packages."

Windows Vista is Microsoft's first major update to the company's flagship operating system since Windows XP was released in late 2001.

Microsoft said it could not comment on the contents of the letter because it had not received it. It said consumers were free to use a wide range of competitor products and Vista was designed to respect the choices that consumers make.

"Keeping the industry and regulators informed of our product-development plans has been, and will remain, a priority," it said in a statement. "We have worked hard to include partners and competitors in our planning so they can build products and services that work with Windows Vista."

Vista's ability to work with rival products also comes under EU scrutiny. "There is also the possibility that we won't have all the necessary technical information so that competitors will be able to make a product that is compatible with Vista," Todd said.

Any investigation into Vista would be separate from Microsoft's legal challenge to a 2004 antitrust ruling and fine. That EU ruling found the company guilty of abusing antitrust rules by squeezing rival media players out of the market and holding back technical information that would help software developers make products that worked with Windows.

Revamped

e-mail, archiving

system to launch

Microsoft is releasing new versions of technology for safeguarding and archiving e-mails and other corporate messages.

Microsoft Exchange Hosted Services, which was known as FrontBridge Technologies before Microsoft acquired that company, includes four products that can help companies minimize spam and viruses, and archive messages for legal and regulatory requirements.

The newly revamped product line will be available April 1 in most countries.

The products will be offered as a service over the Internet, rather than as software that companies have to install. Such offerings are growing in popularity because they can be cheaper and easier for customers and less cumbersome for software makers to update.

Microsoft says the products, which will be sold directly to businesses, are meant to complement companies' other security safeguards.

The Associated Press