02 July 2005, 14:17 Business

Microsoft is paying again

Alexander Polivanov Microsoft continues to pay huge sums for antitrust claims from various computer manufacturers. This time, Bill Gates' company reached an agreement with IBM - Microsoft will pay it $775 million. In return, IBM promised not to make financial claims against Microsoft for two years.

Microsoft , the world's largest software maker, has settled its dispute with IBM (International Business Machines) out of court. Microsoft agreed to pay the computer maker $775 million in fines. Another $75 million will go toward developing a program to introduce Microsoft operating systems into new IBM computers.

The settlement concerns a fairly old lawsuit. In 1998, the US antitrust commission won a court case in which Microsoft was accused of pressuring IBM, Gateway and other computer makers to promote its Internet Explorer web browser and artificially inflate its prices.

Under the agreement, IBM, in turn, agreed that it would no longer make any financial claims against Microsoft for damages the company suffered from the software developer earlier than June 30, 2002. IBM also promised not to make any claims against Microsoft for the next two years.

“Yes, we have reached a settlement and there appears to be nothing more to add,” IBM spokesman Scott Brooks told reporters .

But after a pause he continued. “The agreement solves one of our long-term problems. We are pleased that we were able to reach a settlement - after all, we have been working on a project that would suit both companies for the past two months,” said Scott Brooks.

Microsoft Vice President Brad Smith also expressed a positive assessment of the agreement . "With the antitrust issues resolved, IBM and Microsoft are freer to move forward, sometimes teaming up, sometimes competing, for the benefit of consumers," said Brad Smith.

Microsoft has recently been trying to settle all disputes out of court. According to the company itself, this is being done in order to spend more time not on court hearings, but to focus on managing and improving its main programs, the Windows operating system in the first place.

“This is the right position,” said Sunil Reddy, who manages Microsoft shares at Fifth Third Bancorp. “They want to get back to the core business.”

Microsoft regularly suffers from antitrust claims.

In the last year alone, in the US, the Windows maker paid out $1.6 billion to computer company Sun Microsystems Inc, $60 million to Burst.com and $150 million to computer maker Gateway Inc.

There are constant complaints against Microsoft in Europe. antimonopoly committee The European Union's in 2004 demanded that Microsoft make Windows available without the mandatory use of Windows Media Player. Users would then be able to buy software and media players from other manufacturers, such as RealNetworks and Apple . also The European Commission demanded from Microsoft access to technical information about the interaction of Windows with various programs. This would allow independent software developers to create products compatible with the Microsoft operating system.