Microsoft's Fine Is $612 Million

If the ruling stands, Microsoft will be forbidden from offering manufacturers a discount for shipping versions of Windows that include its media player. A trustee would make sure other anticompetitive ploys weren't attempted. The EU concluded that Microsoft's marketing currently "deters innovation and reduces consumer choice in any technologies which Microsoft could conceivably take an interest in and tie with Windows in the future."

"The ongoing abuses act as a brake on innovation and harm the competitive process and consumers, who ultimately end up with less choice and facing higher prices," EU Competition Commissioner Mario Monti said in a statement.

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Wednesday's order is similar to a settlement with the U.S. government reached in 2001, but goes further in precluding the future bundling of technologies in a market where Microsoft does about 30% of its business.

As for its server practices, the EU found that "nondisclosures by Microsoft were part of a broader strategy designed to shut competitors out of the market." The company will be allowed to collect a fee from programmers wishing to access the server source code.

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