And the winner is …

… the European Commission’s antitrust department. The EU court dismisses Microsoft appeal.
Just this round … no doubt that Microsoft will appeal the decision to the European Court of Justice.

This decision will have very strong echoes in all software industry, because, as the Microsoft lawyers previously said:

The outcome of this case is critical not only for Microsoft, but for future innovation in our industry. Companies need to have confidence they won’t be forced to hand over their valuable intellectual property to their competitors. In addition, companies need to have confidence they can develop new products with the features their customers want.

So, Apple, Google, Intel etc. have reasons to worry, too. Let’s not forget that the US Government lobbied competition commissioner Neelie Kroes over Microsoft fine. Will they try again?