European Commission fines levied against Microsoft won’t affect the launch of Windows Vista, the head of the software maker’s Japanese unit said Thursday.On Wednesday, the European Commission fined Microsoft 280.5 million euros (US$357 million) for failing to comply with the terms of a March 2004 antitrust judgment against it. As part of the judgment, the company was ordered to provide competitors with technical details of communication protocols used by its server products. The fine was imposed to punish Microsoft for failing to do so in a timely manner.“What the E.U. wanted was not that specific until April. We agreed to a set of milestones and we’re hitting those milestones, but the last milestone is a week or so away,” said Darren Huston, president and chief executive officer of Microsoft’s Japanese unit, Microsoft Co. Ltd. Darren Huston The fine will not impact the launch schedule for Windows Vista, Huston said at a news conference Thursday. The company’s new operating system is scheduled to be available through volume licensing in November and through retail to consumers in early 2007. The OS is already in beta testing. At this stage, the biggest threat to the schedule would come from a beta tester finding a serious problem in the software that would require significant amounts of work, Huston said. However, as the release date approaches, the probability of finding such a flaw decreases because it would likely have been caught already, he said.-Martyn Williams, IDG News Service (Tokyo Bureau) Related Links: Microsoft Hit With $357M E.U. Fine Gates: 80% Chance Vista Will Launch in Jan.This article is posted on our Microsoft Informer page. For more news on the Redmond, Wash.-based powerhouse, keep checking in.Check out our CIO News Alerts and Tech Informer pages for more updated news coverage. Related content brandpost Sponsored by SAP Generative AI’s ‘show me the money’ moment We’re past the hype and slick gen AI sales pitches. Business leaders want results. By Julia White Nov 30, 2023 5 mins Artificial Intelligence brandpost Sponsored by Zscaler How customers capture real economic value with zero trust Unleashing economic value: Zscaler's Zero Trust Exchange transforms security architecture while cutting costs. By Zscaler Nov 30, 2023 4 mins Security brandpost Sponsored by SAP A cloud-based solution to rescue millions from energy poverty Aware of the correlation between energy and financial poverty, Savannah Energy is helping to generate clean, competitively priced electricity across Africa by integrating its old systems into one cloud-based platform. By Keith E. Greenberg, SAP Contributor Nov 30, 2023 5 mins Digital Transformation feature 8 change management questions every IT leader must answer Designed to speed adoption and achieve business outcomes, change management hasn’t historically been a strength of IT orgs. It’s time to flip that script by asking hard questions to hone change strategies. By Stephanie Overby Nov 30, 2023 10 mins Change Management Change Management IT Operations Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe