South Korean antitrust regulators ruled that Microsoft abused its software market dominance, fined it $32 million and ordered the company to offer alternative versions of its Windows operating system that country within six months. Microsoft said it will fight the decision in court.
The Korea Fair Trade Commission on Wednesday found Microsoft's (MSFT) practice of tying certain software to Windows constitutes an "abuse of market dominant position and unfair trade practices," Kang Chul-kyu, the commission's chairman, told reporters.
In a similar case in March 2004, the European Union ordered Microsoft to pay $586 million, share code information with software rivals and offer a version of Windows without Media Player software. Microsoft is appealing that ruling.
In the South Korean ruling, the commission ordered Microsoft to offer two versions of Windows in South Korea within 180 days.
One version must be stripped of the Windows Media Player and Windows Messenger software, while the other version must come with links to web pages that allow consumers to download competing versions of such software.
In the wake of the European Union ruling in 2004, Microsoft produced a version of Windows without the media player which debuted in June in Europe. But European sales of that version -- Windows XP N -- appear to have been lukewarm as few computer manufacturers and retailers said they were planning to offer the new version to their customers.
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AOL for love, not money: Time Warner is in discussions about finding a partner to boost advertising revenue at its America Online unit -- but AOL is not for sale, CEO Dick Parsons said.
"We are not interested in selling AOL," Parsons said at a press briefing before a speech in Los Angeles.
Time Warner is negotiating with different parties about a deal that could help AOL's transition from a business that relies on paid subscriptions to one that makes money based on advertising revenue.
A Time Warner executive involved in the negotiations, who asked not to be identified because discussions are ongoing, said the company is still talking to both Microsoft and Google about potential deals involving AOL. Yahoo (YHOO) last month removed itself as a potential partner.
The discussions with Microsoft and Google have included the potential for one of the firms to take a stake in AOL, but the person said the discussions are now focusing on simpler arrangements that would involve collaborating on online advertising.
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Far from Redmond: Microsoft plans to invest $1.7 billion in India and add 3,000 jobs in the country over the next four years, nearly doubling the software company's work force there.
Microsoft has long viewed India, a country of 1 billion people with a robust economy, as a potentially huge market, and the investment would be one of the single largest by an information technology company in India.
Much of the money would go toward improving the software giant's research and development capabilities, including the creation of a new facility in the southern city of Bangalore, India's technology hub.
The company also said it plans to release an edition of its Windows operating system designed specifically for India and available in nine Indian languages -- a move that could be aimed at fending off challenges from cheaper open-source operating systems, like Linux.
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The Apple peacock: NBC Universal has inked a deal with Apple to become the second network to sell television shows a la carte on Apple's online iTunes store.
More than 300 episodes from about a dozen prime time, cable, late-night and classic TV shows are now available for $1.99 apiece, viewable on computers or downloadable on the latest, video-capable iPod.
The programming spans from the 1950s to the present, including shows from Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Dragnet, USA Network's Monk, the Sci-Fi Channel's Battlestar Galactica, and NBC's hit series Law & Order. Sketches from The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and Late Night with Conan O'Brien are also for sale.
The network recently signed a deal to begin selling replays of its most popular shows on an on-demand basis through satellite TV provider DirecTV, and last month announced it is collaborating with Sprint Nextel to make Leno's monologue and comic sketches available on mobile phones.
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Compiled by Keith Axline. AP contributed to this report.
