European Commission Case
In March 2004, the European Commission in the European Union Microsoft antitrust case fined Microsoft €497 million and ordered the company to provide a version of Windows without Windows Media Player, claiming Microsoft "broke European Union competition law by leveraging its near monopoly in the market for PC operating systems onto the markets for work group server operating systems and for media players". The company has made available a compliant version of its flagship operating system under the negotiated name "Windows XP N", though the product has not been very successful. Windows Vista and Windows 7 are also available in "N" editions. Still, with these editions, it is possible to either install Windows Media Player (XP/Vista) or the Media Restore Pack through Windows Update (Vista) to add the media player.
Read more about this topic: Windows Media Player
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