Microsoft signs up first licensee in EU case

Under threat of new multimillion-dollar fines, Microsoft Corp. said Thursday that it had signed up its first licensee for a program to help servers work with the Windows operating platform.

The European Commission had threatened the software giant with new daily fines of $4 million last week, alleging that it ignored a March 2004 antitrust order that said Microsoft overcharged rivals for “complete and accurate” documentation.

Microsoft said signing up Quest Software -- an Aliso Viejo firm that helps businesses manage information technology systems -- was key in its efforts to comply with regulators’ demands. Microsoft said it was speaking with other potential licensees.

Rivals, however, say the licenses do nothing in the work-group server market to make software work smoothly with Windows desktops, as the European Union wants.

The licenses are useful to companies that make products complementary to Microsoft’s, said Thomas Vinje, spokesman for the European Committee for Interoperable Systems, a group of Microsoft’s rivals.

“It’s window dressing arranged by Microsoft to cover up its refusal to comply with the commission decision,” Vinje said. “Quest is not a competitor of Microsoft. It is a partner of Microsoft’s.”

Microsoft said the agreement showed that Quest believed the royalty rate was reasonable.