Is the European commission really fighting its case against Microsoft to defend ordinary computer users against a corporate giant abusing its dominance of the world's software market, as Brussels likes to claim?
The commission likes to style itself as a champion of consumers and has been pursuing its anti-monopoly case against Microsoft for eight years. But I can't help suspecting that part of what is motivating Brussels is the chance to claim such a high-profile scalp. The EC hopes it can succeed in taming the behemoth of the software world where US antitrust regulators failed.
The world's largest software group is in court today appealing against the commission's decision two years ago to fine it €497m (£340m) for abusing its monopoly.
The fight that has reached its latest stage in the Luxembourg courtroom today involves American companies claiming to have suffered at the hands of a giant monopolist, itself also based in the US. The intervention of Europe's top regulator was prompted by Microsoft's high market share in Europe.
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