Dutch web company Ilse Media was none too pleased when it discovered that Microsoft's AntiSpyware software blocked one of Ilse's portals. The software, which is in beta at this time and which can monitor a Windows PC and warns when unwanted software is installed, blocked Ilse Media's Startpagina, one of the most popular directory pages in the Netherlands. Any internet users who had set Startpagina ("Startpage") as their home page found themselves instead headed for MSN.com.
Ilse wasn't amused: the company is a fierce competitor of MSN on the Dutch market. Although only a dozen internet users must have used Microsoft's software, Ilse threatened Microsoft with legal action. Microsoft told Dutch news site Planet Multimedia today it will pay Ilse €10.000 to compensate for legal costs, despite the fact that the bug has already been fixed in the new version of Windows AntiSpyware, which was released last week.
This does beg the question, of course, as to what else is blocked by the new Microsoft software, and what other legal battles are on the way.