Microsoft had agreed to present a web browser choice screen to all users in the European Economic Area (EEA) in order to settle a competition investigation, in which the European Commission outlined its preliminary view that the company abused its dominant position in the market for client PC operating systems through the tying of Internet Explorer to Windows.
Since then, millions of European users will have seen the Browser Choice screen appear on their Desktop. The screen is an unbiased browser selection program that allowed a user to install an alternative web browser, or stick with Internet Explorer as a default.
However, Microsoft failed to roll out the browser choice screen with its Windows 7 Service Pack 1, which was released in February 2011, the European regulator has said. From February 2011 until July 2012, millions of Windows users in the EU may not have seen the choice screen. Microsoft has acknowledged that the choice screen was not displayed during that period.
If a company has breached commitments made legally binding by way of an Article 9 decision, it may be fined up to 10% of its total annual turnover.
Written by: James Delahunty @ 24 Oct 2012 18:24
