EU consults on Microsoft pledges

The European Union has begun an investigation to determine whether Microsoft is upholding pledges to curb anti-competitive practices.

It is consulting PC makers, software firms and consumers on Microsoft's offer to allow users to pick different browsers when they install Windows.

The bloc ruled in 2004 that Microsoft had abused its dominant market position by freezing out rivals.

It said Microsoft must let competitors' products run on its operating system.

"The commission will formally market test proposals made by Microsoft to address concerns regarding the tying of Internet Explorer to the Windows PC operating system," said the EU's competition commissioner Neelie Kroes.

"The preliminary view is that Microsoft's commitments would indeed address our concerns," she added.

"PC users should have an effective and unbiased choice between Internet Explorer and competing web browsers."

Long history

In July, Microsoft proposed a consumer choice screen that allowed users to pick from a number of different browsers.

The commission then asked Microsoft to improve the choice screen, which it has now done.

The latest proposal, and the one which the EU is consulting on, features a choice of 12 browsers.

"Today's decision is a significant step toward closing a decade-long chapter in competition law concerns in Europe," Microsoft said in a statement.

Back in 2004, the EU fined Microsoft and forced it to offer a version of its Windows operating system without Microsoft's own media player.

The company was also told to give rivals more information about how Windows works, so they could make their own software integrate better with the operating system.

Microsoft appealed against the decision but lost its case in 2007.