The EU commission issued a $357 million fine for the period between last December and the end of lastmonth along with a continuing fine over nearly $2 million per day.

The fine was based on a 2004 ruling that required Microsoft to share information with comopetitors that develop workgropu server OSes as well as license parts out at a reasonable price. It also required Microsoft to unbundle Windows Media Player from the OS.

The EU has been frustrated with Microsoft's lack of progress and decided to take this to issue such harsh sanctions.

The EU considers Microsoft's anti-competitive behavior to be a grave threat that needs to be dealt with. If Microsoft were doing something less threatening, such as developing nuclear weapons to threaten competitors with, more patience would have been in order.

Microsoft was issued several milestone dates and Microsoft was slow to comply with the EU's requirements.  How this affects Windows Vista remains to be seen.