Microsoft Readies Windows for Appeal

Microsoft Corp. said it was ready to put a stripped-down version of Windows on the market if it failed this week to persuade a judge to suspend a landmark European Union antitrust decision.

Microsoft is appealing a ruling the EU made in March that included a record $600-million fine as well as orders to hand over software code to rivals in the server market and to change the way it packages its Media Player software into Windows.

“We’ll certainly be ready to comply,” Microsoft’s chief lawyer, Brad Smith, said. He said the U.S. software giant had “spent millions of dollars over the past few months” to prepare a version of its ubiquitous operating system that would satisfy EU regulators.