The European Commission has opened a new investigation into Microsoft, amid concerns the software giant is not implementing the conditions agreed in 2009 with the EC to offer consumers a choice of web browsers with its Windows operating system. One of the conditions of ending the earlier anti-trust investigation against Microsoft was that the company present for five years a screen where consumers can choose from a range of web browsers, rather than using Internet Explorer by default.
The commission said it believes that Microsoft may have failed to roll out the choice screen with Windows 7 Service Pack 1, which was released in February 2011. This is despite the fact that, in December 2011, Microsoft indicated in its annual compliance report to the commission that it was in compliance with its commitments.
In a statement, Microsoft admitted to the error, and said around 27 million PCs lacked the browser software. It's rolling out a software fix this week, and has started an internal investigation to find out how the problem occurred. It offered to extend the time it offers the browser screen choice by another 15 months to make up for the error.
If the EC finds that Microsoft failed to comply with its commitments, the company may face additional fines or operating restrictions. Microsoft has already been fined over EUR 1 billion for earlier non-compliance with a EU competition decision from 2004, when the company was found to be abusing its dominant position on the PC operating system market, by tying other software to Windows and not allowing interoperability with third-party products.
