Over the past year and a few months before that, companies in the EU began filing anti-trust laws against the Microsoft. They said that Microsoft was using unethical means and its influences to promote its softwares, which were not letting smaller companies to showcase their products and hence gain some market. They accused Microsoft of bundling softwares like Windows Media Player and Internet Explorer, which was preventing users from trying out new softwares from the upcoming companies. Now, all this well and good, and supposedly its going to help these so-called 'new' companies appear on the face of the market, but how effective is all this going to be?

Microsoft over the years has created enough of a strong foothold, and people having been using their softwares ever since they started using Windows, and whoever uses Windows, is very much familiar with the abovementioned brands. They know what is where, and hence the familiarity and comfort level issue dominates here. A child, when faced by his/her mother and a beautiful supermodel side by side, will go to his/her mother without even thinking twice or looking at the model. Why? Because he/she is familiar with the mother, knowing who she is and what she can do. Similarly, people will still look to the applications they have been using for years. And since now Microsoft is improving all these softwares drastically since it has been faced with challenges from several companies, a slight change will be only welcome by people ... since everything else is where they have gotten used to them.

Releasing the source code in bits and pieces to try and satisfy the user base is just a small gimmick, because even Microsoft knows that it'll take more than a hundred million downloads or firefox to put them in any jeopardy. They know how to reach the top, and how to stay there. Yes, these lawsuits will put up a slight obstruction in their march, but they have the upper hand in market share.

The "Wall Street Journal" has obtained a confidential document sent from European Union (EU) antitrust regulators to Microsoft last month, warning the software giant that a release of its Windows source code would not meet the EU's requirements. Last week, you may recall, Microsoft announced with great fanfare that it would release portions of its Windows source code in a bid to meet its overdue EU antitrust requirements. Microsoft general console called the move "a bold stroke" when it was announced.

The Windows "source code was never asked for nor indeed welcomed," a British computer scientist wrote in a report describing Microsoft's botched attempt to meet European antitrust demands. You may recall that EU antitrust commissioner Neelie Kroes said she was "surprised" that Microsoft made the source code offer last week. Given this revelation, her comments can be put in perspective: She's surprised because the EU specifically told the company that a source code release would not meet its requirements.

Lets see how this goes!