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On Wednesday, the European Union's antitrust regulators in the European Commission fined Microsoft 561 million euros, or $732 million, due to Microsoft's violations of a 2009 anti-trust agreement with the EU. Microsoft admitted that a number of Windows 7-based PCs did not display the required web browser download ballot in Europe from 2011 to 2012, as required by the agreement with the EU. Microsoft said it was a software mistake and fixed it once it was discovered.

In their decision on Wednesday, the EU said, "A failure to comply is a very serious infringement that must be sanctioned accordingly." But was the amount of the fine too much for what was apparently an unintentional error on Microsoft's part? Nicholas Economides, a professor at New York University's Stern School of Business. seems to think so.

Investors.com quotes Economides as saying, "This fine is extraordinary. It's huge, for something that for all intents and purposes looks like a mistake." He added that while Microsoft's technical issues could have been avoided, he said, " ... to charge them more than $700 million on a technical glitch sounds excessive to me."

Microsoft has also been cooperative with the EU on this manner and Economides believes that the EU is distracted with punishing Microsoft when they should go after Google. The EU has its own anti-trust investigation going into Google's search policies and Economides says Google has been "defiant" in terms of their cooperation with the EU's questions.

Source: Investors.com | Image via Microsoft

This article will feed the butthurt from fans, should be deleted immediately

This requirement shouldn't exist to begin with.  

I have no problem with it.  Microsoft still does their best to force people to use IE from time to time, even if some hate the thing.  It's not like you can delete it.  They'd make it completely required if they could get away with it.  I have little sympathy for fallout over Microsoft's business practices given their past history.  We've seen exactly WHY a browser monopoly is bad in the past with Internet Explorer, why people would want that again, I don't know.  Personally, I ignore IE, but from what I understand, they actually try to make it good now that they have competition and can't ignore convention.  The garbage that was IE6 screwed up the internet for a long, long time.  Anyone really want to return to that?

As for the fine, it does seem excessive.  However, Microsoft had a glitch that voided an important, highly publicized agreement and it went undiscovered for an entire year?  Uh huh, right.

I agree, it is not like they were charging for IE or preventing people from installing other browsers. The article states that appromiately 10% of Win 7 PCs in that market was affected. That is a ridiculous fine. 

Well, someone has to bail out the European economy since they can't seem to handle it themselves. Handing out massive fines to corporations that actually know how to handle money seems like a good way to get things back on track.

AMIRITE?

MS should just buy greece, italy and spain and then just say FU to the rest of Europe..

Yup, mostly this.

What the heck are you saying? The EU is trying to avoid becoming a second USA, where the debt has gotten so high people are born with 60k in debt already! Corporations and banks should receive way bigger fines than at the moment when they break the law.

Don't let the door hit you on the way out.