Microsoft is seeking a delay in replying to new issues raised by the European Commission with the software giant, a European Union source said yesterday.
Microsoft has approached the Commission for a delay in its reply to a statement of objections issued in August, the source said.
At that time, the EU executive gave Microsoft a final opportunity to comment before it imposes fines and other remedies on the firm.
The Commission says that Microsoft abused the market dominance of its Windows operating system.
The company had no comment on the reports of the request for a delay, but earlier in Rome its European chief executive, Mr Jean-Philippe Courtois, had said the company wanted to take as much time as it could get to put together a reply.
"We expect to reply in the next few weeks or months," he said. "This time frame is not exact... we are going to take as much time as we are allowed to take."
The Commission says that Microsoft may have abused the dominance of the Windows operating system with its Media Player audiovisual software and its server software. It also believes Microsoft designs its low-end server software, which manages everything from websites to email systems, to work better with Windows than with rival operating systems from Sun Microsystems, Oracle, and other competitors. - (Reuters)
