The European Commission has levied a new fine against Microsoft for its perceived anti-competitive behavior, this time demanding more than ever from the company. According to a Reuters report, Microsoft has been fined a total of € 899 million, which is equivalent to $1.36 billion. Reuters says the Commission has fined Microsoft again because it believes the company has failed to successfully comply with the original 2004 decision, which required Microsoft to provide interoperability data to competitors. Microsoft announced a slew of new initiatives related to interoperability and open-source software last week, but apparently too late to change the Commission's mind. Unfortunately for Microsoft, the euro hit a record high of $1.51 against the dollar today, so the new fine is worth about $54 million more now that it would have been a week ago with the euro at $1.45. Of course, the entire fine represents "only" about 21% of Microsoft's profits for the past quarter alone.

FYI, this is going to represent about 1% of the EU's budget. Microsoft will be contributing about as much as the Czech Republic and more than Slovakia, Slovenia, Luxembourg, Lithuania, Cyprus, Latvia, Estonia, or Malta (in fact it's more than the last 6 of those combined). They really should let MS join the EU as a member state. ;)