tremendo75
Content Monetizer
2
MONTHS
2 2 MONTHS OF SERVICE
LEVEL 1
100 XP
The world's leading software company, Microsoft was fined by the European Commission after making an error for a single line of code. The error caused the company a whopping $731 Million fined.
The European Union's anti-trust authority, European Commission, stated that the fined was due to the violation of a 2009 agreement between Microsoft and the European Commission.
Last 2009, Microsoft agreed to give Windows users in Europe the freedom to choose what browsers they wanted to download and install on their computers by redirecting them to browserchoice.eu, when they boot up their systems for the first time.
The website was also hosted by Microsoft, contains download links to several browsers such as Google Chrome, Firefox, Maxthon, Opera, and Microsoft's very own Internet Explorer.
The problem with Microsoft was when they released a Windows 7 Service Pack 1 update in 2011, the pop-out dialog box that points users to the aforementioned website disappeared.
According to Microsoft insider who explained that "It was a single line in the code that triggered the browser choice program. It had a list of versions of Windows to test against: if the version was found in that list, the program would run. They didn't include Service Pack 1, which is effectively a different version of Windows, in that list. And so the program didn't run."
The penalty is the first time that the European Commission made to an iconic company for failing to comply with a so-called "commitments decision." The size of the fine had been calculated by considering "the gravity and duration of the infringement, the need to ensure a deterrent effect of the fine and, as a mitigating circumstance, that Microsoft has cooperated with the commission and provided information which helped the commission to investigate the matter efficiently."
The European Union's anti-trust authority, European Commission, stated that the fined was due to the violation of a 2009 agreement between Microsoft and the European Commission.
Last 2009, Microsoft agreed to give Windows users in Europe the freedom to choose what browsers they wanted to download and install on their computers by redirecting them to browserchoice.eu, when they boot up their systems for the first time.
The website was also hosted by Microsoft, contains download links to several browsers such as Google Chrome, Firefox, Maxthon, Opera, and Microsoft's very own Internet Explorer.
The problem with Microsoft was when they released a Windows 7 Service Pack 1 update in 2011, the pop-out dialog box that points users to the aforementioned website disappeared.
According to Microsoft insider who explained that "It was a single line in the code that triggered the browser choice program. It had a list of versions of Windows to test against: if the version was found in that list, the program would run. They didn't include Service Pack 1, which is effectively a different version of Windows, in that list. And so the program didn't run."
The penalty is the first time that the European Commission made to an iconic company for failing to comply with a so-called "commitments decision." The size of the fine had been calculated by considering "the gravity and duration of the infringement, the need to ensure a deterrent effect of the fine and, as a mitigating circumstance, that Microsoft has cooperated with the commission and provided information which helped the commission to investigate the matter efficiently."