Less than 2,000 Windows XPN versions are available in the market

According to Microsoft, since March 2004, only 1,787 XPN versions (Windows without Media Player) have been distributed to retailers, but they cannot know how many people have spent it.

Speaking at the opening session of the trial appealing to the decision of the European Commission (held on April 24, in Luxembourg), lawyer Jean-Francois Bellis said that Windows XPN may have been bought by some people . . as a souvenir of antitrust lawsuits two years ago.

Bellis said the two computer makers, HP and Toshiba, were interested in an operating system that does not include Media Player, but ultimately no one would ship a PC with such a product.

The European Commission believes that Microsoft's integration of Media Player in Windows will make customers limited when choosing other audiovisual software. From time to time, providers will only release content in Media Player compatible format.

However, Microsoft claims that cannot happen. Users still install many free programs with different features on the system. Two new rivals, Google Video and Flash, also show that this market is very "open". The American software group also noted that Apple sold 50 million iPods without Windows Media Player. Besides, removing code in XPN actually doesn't just stop Media Player, but also prevents the operation of many other applications like Napster.

The appeal court will take 5 days. The first two days mainly focused on Media Player issues in Windows and the next two days will mention that Microsoft needs to expand operating system-related information to rival manufacturers. The trial ended April 28, but the final verdict will only be released at the end of the year.

TN