Ballmer flew out there a week ago and talks "broke down."  MS
refuses to release their APIs to European software companies
(something the judge ordered in 1999 in the U.S. case
and has never been enforced here).  Also the EU demands a
separate version of Windows without the Media Player stuff
inextricably wedged in there.  It's like a replay of the U.S. case
with one difference, the EU has the will to punish companies
that 1) aren't from Europe and 2) are breaking monopoly law.

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?
type=reutersEdge&storyID=4625610