Microsoft faces Taiwan antitrust investigation

IDG News Service - Taiwan's Fair Trade Commission has launched an investigation into whether Microsoft Corp. holds a monopoly position over the island's software market and whether it abuses such a position, an official said today.

The government investigation into Microsoft will also look into complaints that Microsoft is limiting consumer choices by restricting the availability of Windows XP on new PCs and whether pricing of Microsoft products is fair to consumers on the island.

Taiwan's investigation is unique in that no other region where Microsoft has previously faced regulatory issues, including the U.S., Europe and South Korea, is currently looking at the company for the same reason.

"Taiwan doesn't have its own [OS] software," said an official from the Fair Trade Commission. "Most people in Taiwan use Microsoft software and depend on it for work. Their market share should be very high," she said.

Should the world's largest software maker be found to have broken Taiwanese antitrust laws, the company could face a fine of up to $797,361 and could be forced to change some of its business practices on the island.

"We fully intend to comply with the process and make sure they get all the information they need," said Matt Pilla, Microsoft's director of public relations in Asia.

Taiwan's investigation was launched in part due to urging by Taiwan's nonprofit Consumers' Foundation.

The group last month called on Microsoft to continue selling Windows XP as an option on all new PCs, saying that discontinuing sales of the operating system would violate Taiwanese antitrust laws. The Consumers' Foundation alleges that Microsoft is using its market position to try to force people in Taiwan to switch to Windows Vista.

The foundation conducted a survey on the island that found 67% of consumers are opposed to Microsoft's decision to stop selling XP at the end of June.

The main complaint is over a lack of choice when people buy new computers. Around 56% of survey respondents who had bought a new computer recently were told they could not buy Windows XP and instead were forced to purchase Vista, the foundation said.

The foundation said Microsoft controls 98% of Taiwan's operating system market share, with 75% of survey respondents using Windows XP on their PCs and 23% using Vista.

A majority of respondents to the survey, more than 53%, said they did not think Vista is as useful as XP, while 23% said Vista is the better operating system.

Pilla pointed out that Microsoft has extended XP's life beyond traditional norms for the company, including allowing it to be sold on certain systems meant for businesses until June 30, 2009, and on ultralow cost PCs through June 30, 2010.