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EC Appoints Advisor to Monitor Microsoft

Professor Neil Barrett, a computer scientist and specialist in researching Internet crime, will serve as a technical advisor to the European Commission on questions of Microsoft's compliance with the EC's 2004 decision against Microsoft.

The Commission, which reserves sole authority to determine Microsoft's compliance, picked Barrett this week from a list of candidates submitted by Microsoft. Barrett begins his mandate immediately.

Barrett's role is to provide impartial, expert advice to the Commission on compliance issues. Barrett will have the option of hiring expert advisors to assist him.

The Commission decided in March 2004 after a five-year investigation that Microsoft broke the EC Treaty ban on abuse of monopoly power by leveraging a near monopoly in the PC operating systems market onto the markets for workgroup server operating systems and media players. The decision included a fine of 497 million Euros and several remedies.

About the Author

Scott Bekker is editor in chief of Redmond Channel Partner magazine.

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