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Embattled software giant Microsoft has today announced a resolution with the European Union on the name of a new copy of Windows XP. After being found guilty by a court in 2004 of breaking EU monopoly law, the company is being forced to sell a stripped down version of Windows XP without Media player components.

Microsoft will sell the stripped down version of Windows XP in Europe as "Windows XP Home Edition N". Previous announcements had suggested names such as "Windows XP reduced Media Edition", yet these proved unpopular with the EU regulators who believed the name would be unattractive to consumers. Microsoft’s most recent decision represents a small victory for the EU who has had difficultly enforcing its judgments on the company.

Microsoft has yet to comply with another part of the EU judgment which stipulates that the company must open up access to server protocols. Negotiations have stumbled over terms of the license which was prohibitive to open source software makers. Microsoft are also in disagreement with EU over plans to appoint a trustee to monitor Microsoft's compliance, or lack there of. If Microsoft fails to comply with the Commission’s decisions, they could face fines of up to $5 million per day.

Horacio Gutierrez, a lawyer for Microsoft, told Reuters that the company has "some misgivings about the chosen name, as we fear it may cause confusion for consumers about the product, but we will adopt the Commission's name in order to move forward and accelerate the pace of the implementation process." Gutierrez said the new version would be available to European consumers within a "matter of weeks".

Microsoft faced a similar situation with the US DoJ in the late nineties. However, with deep pockets and large settlements the company's rivals are less vocal and of a smaller number. The problem Microsoft faces with the EU is that it is unable to "bargain its way out of settlement", as some critics have suggested the company did in the USA. With no clout over the European Commission, the company faces a serious problem: it might just have to comply.

View: Microsoft.com

This second generation of Cinema Displays comes in three sizes (20-Inch, 23-Inch, and the 30-Inch model), and have extra features like dual Firewire & dual USB 2.0 ports. As you might expect, like everything else made by Apple, Cinema Displays aren’t the cheapest thing on the market ($1,299 and up). With Apple’s reputation as a quality vendor, one might reasonably expect a decent deal. Especially when you spend over $1,000 dollars, you’d expect to get an honest and fair warranty. However, with this new generation of Cinema Displays, Apple only offers a 1-year manufacturer warranty. Has Apple screwed over it’s so called valuable customers with a warranty best fitting a Gateway product?! We think so. If one was so inclined, one can purchase an extended warranty for around $199, giving you a 3-year extended warranty. But there’s a catch. In order to get the extended warranty, you must purchase either a PowerMac or PowerBook along side of your $1,299+ LCD; unless you're planning on doing just this, you'll be up a creek without the proverbial paddle.

So come on guys, we hear you cry. Be reasonable. How is this a major issue? Well, consumers shouldn’t have to spend an extra $1,200 just to get an extended warranty on a product that so far hasn't had the smoothest sailing. It becomes even more of a problem considering the other, more visible, problems.

Our second concern is the growing number of faulty Cinema Displays. Website’s across the internet have been reporting on Cinema Displays that show either a strong pink or fairly visible yellow hue. Clearly, this isn't the first time that the "pink hue" symptoms have occurred - they first occurred in Apple's PowerBook G3 link (click here). This problem had previously been noticed by graphic professionals, but the more serious pink/yellow hues can be seen by your average computer user. Apple has yet to make an official statement regarding this problem, but has replaced all Cinema Displays that are experiencing this problem. More worryingly, the company has been reported as deleting support threads on their site (click here, DreamLight.com is currently down please click here to view a cached version of the site). This, however, obviously isn't a long term fix. According to DreamLight, the pink/yellow hue comes back after only a few weeks of normal usage. DreamLight suggest from user reports that these problems could be due to unnecessary stress on the LCD.

Of course, this may not be Apple’s fault, but the LCD manufacturer LG. LG produces a wide variety of products ranging from LCD TV's, Cameras, DVD Players - even Refrigerator's. Still, in the PC world, LG products are often suggested to be anything but high quality with less than average performance. Back in 1999, Apple invested $100 million dollars into Samsung to help Samsung produce a large quantity of LCDs for Apples iBooks, PowerBooks, and Cinema Displays. As such, it’s anyone’s guess why Apple switched from Samsung to LG. Even though Apple doesn’t manufacture the LCDs, Apple has a responsibility to its customers. That responsibility is to offer a fair and honest warranty. Switching back doesn’t sound like too bad idea.