Brussels, 04/08/2000 (Agence Europe) - Microsoft has reacted to the Commission's official announcement that it had sent a letter of complaint concerning the abuse of a dominant position in the micro-computer operating sector, following a complaint by Sun Microsystems (see yesterday's EUROPE, p. 3). Defending itself against the accusation according to which it had refused to communicate certain information, Microsoft declares that it has sent its competitors of relevant information concerning the development of its software, necessary for the manufacture of software for servers compatible with its Windows system. According to Microsoft's European officials, "access to this information is readily available to any bookstore, on any Microsoft Website or any developer conference - all of which are available to Sun (…) Sun's complaint is based on their desire to gain access to our technical trade secrets. We do not believe that the law requires Microsoft, or any other company, to share its secrets with direct competitors. Every company should be able to choose the partners with which it collaborates". Microsoft thus said that it was confident as to the outcome of the procedure that could see it condemned to paying a fine representing up to 10% of its turnover assessed at $2.3 billion (or $230 million).