WebProNews

While the European Union would probably need several weeks to begin fining Microsoft under a previous antitrust ruling, the software company's deadline to comply with the ruling ends at midnight.

$5 million USD per day. That's what the Redmond-based software company could face in fines from the European Union, beginning by the end of July.

Microsoft was fined $624 million USD last year for anticompetitive practices. That ruling centered around allowing third-party developers certain source code access to Microsoft's server operating systems. Microsoft has traditionally fought any efforts to open its source code to competitors.

Another issue concerns the bundling of the Windows Media Player with the Windows operating system as purchased by consumers. EU regulators continue to have concerns that the company may provide a technically inferior version of Windows without the Media Player.

And Microsoft has been unhappy with the proposed rates and royalties it could charge in Europe for the operating system and code licenses, respectively.

Though the two parties spent the holiday weekend negotiating on the compliance issue, no progress has been reported.

David Utter is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business. Email him here.