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However, even those plans may come to a fail for the European users. Due to a number of new elements in the operating system, the European Union has raised its concern to the software giant (recall that Microsoft and the European Union are still locked in a legal battle). Furthermore, the European Union has been talking about possibly anticompetitive elements in the XP successor. Microsoft said in a statement that it made clear proposals to the European Union about their concerns and that it is waiting for an answer if changes in the new operating system need to be implemented.
The European Union responded in a different manner and said that It is not up to the Commission to give Microsoft a green light before Vista is put on the market; it is up to Microsoft to accept and implement its responsibilities as a near-monopolist to ensure full compliance with EU competition rules.
How things will develop further is difficult to say. Considering the many delays, Microsoft will do anything to ship the new operating system by January 2007. However, if the European Union is determined that changes to Vista should be made, those should be first implemented, which takes time. And for now, the two parties are standing back to back.
Gerard Nijsse
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