Microsoft, the EU, and Free Market

This week’s announcement of the European Union’s new fine on Microsoft’s non-compliance, combined with their increasing monopoly charges against American companies such as Intel, causes me to question the nature of these accusations and wonder. Are the EU’s anti-privacy laws too strict, or are those of the US too lax? Is the EU unfairly biased against American companies? I only know that the EU’s harsh stance against American companies brings an uneasy feeling to me as an American citizen. I want to know why the collective punishment inflicted on Microsoft US courts has been derided as a mere slap in the wrist, yet the EU has fined Microsoft over 1.3 billion dollars and is openly continuing investigations on Microsoft’s monopoly status. As Europe should continue to be our ally in international business affairs, work needs to be done to reconcile the policies of US courts and the EU to be more in harmony, regardless of whether it is more just and beneficial to continue to punish Microsoft or to let the free market flow naturally.