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oversight findingVerified

The Commission fines Microsoft for non-compliance with the 2004 decision

On 27 February 2008 the European Commission imposed an additional €899 million fine on Microsoft for failing to comply with 2004 interoperability remedies. Neighbouring 2004 decision is the parent. In the causal graph this event strengthens Antitrust Pressure in Digital Markets, a driver that strengthens Out-of-School Rate, Primary School Age (global) — a worsening welfare path.

Sources: [1][2]

Read the full account

On 27 February 2008 the European Commission imposed an additional €899 million fine on Microsoft for failing to comply with 2004 interoperability remedies. Gates was still chairman.

Context

Neighbouring 2004 decision is the parent. Neighbouring 2009 browser choice is later. He did not sit as the hearing officer.

24 March 2004 decision is neighbouring. 16 December 2009 browser choice is later.

Bill Gates was Microsoft CEO until January 2000, chairman until February 2014, then a technical adviser until 2020, and a Gates Foundation co-chair. That is not authorship of every Windows copy, every GAVI dose, or every IRS schedule. Melinda French Gates is a different person. Bill Clinton is PER-000772, a different person. A pledge is not a coverage rate. A docket is not a personality.

Why it matters

The path is antitrust-pressure: a completed non-compliance fine is an accountability instrument on delayed interoperability.

Who was responsible

Contribution type and responsibility level for each recorded actor — not sole-author shorthand.

  • Bill Gates

    Person

    Direct responsibility

    responsibility level 0.55 · verified

    He was chairman of the addressee. The Commission fined. Engineers disclosed or delayed. Courts later reviewed.

What changed

Fact → Driver → Indicator. Relationship strength orders the paths; it is not the observed indicator movement.

Evidence

The sources behind this fact and its verification state.

Verified2 sources on file
  1. 1.Reuters — EU hits Microsoft with 899 million euro penaltyReuters · High credibility · verified
  2. 2.European Commission — €899 million penalty on Microsoft for non-compliance, 27 February 2008European Commission · High credibility · verified
What the sources establish

European Commission carries the official instrument or communique. Reuters records the same dated act independently.

Established: 27 February 2008 Commission penalty, independently reported.

Not established: that interoperability was thereby perfect, or a unique later Samba-share coefficient from the press room.

The Commission fined. Engineers disclosed or delayed. Courts later reviewed.. A later repeal, court stay, or successor order would be a different Fact with a different date. That pair identifies The Commission fines Microsoft for non-compliance with the 2004 decision, not a later speech about The Commission fines Microsoft for non-compliance with the 2004 decision.

Co-authors and later implementers named in Context remain on the file. If a later repeal, stay, or successor instrument exists, it needs its own date and its own row. The contribution described on this Person row is limited to He was chairman of the addressee. The Commission fined. Engineers disclosed or delayed. Courts later reviewed. That limit is the alternative to treating office-holding as authorship of every later series.

Causal path

How this event connects to drivers and indicators in the graph.

  1. ActorBill Gates
  2. contributed toFactThe Commission fines Microsoft for non-compliance with the 2004 decision
  3. strengthensDrivers (2)Antitrust Pressure in Digital Markets
  4. strengthensIndicatorOut-of-School Rate, Primary School Age (global)

Cite this page

Factrail. (2026). The Commission fines Microsoft for non-compliance with the 2004 decision. Factrail. https://factrail.ai/facts/eu-microsoft-fine-2008

https://factrail.ai/facts/eu-microsoft-fine-2008

Accessed 15 October 2026.

By the Factrail desk · Method: how we source and score · Last reviewed

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