Brussels, 02/03/2010 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 2 March, the European Commission welcomed the implementation by Microsoft of its commitment to give consumers in the European Union the opportunity to choose from a variety of browsers to access and surf the internet. On 16 December 2009, the Commission made legally binding on Microsoft commitments offered by the US software company to address competition concerns that the Commission had raised with respect to the tying of Microsoft's web browser, Internet Explorer, to its dominant client PC operating system, Windows. Specifically, Microsoft committed to make available for five years in the European Economic Area a "Choice Screen" enabling users of Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7 to choose in an informed and unbiased manner which web browser(s) they want to install in addition to, or instead of, Microsoft's web browser. Since the beginning of March, internet users in the European Economic Area who receive automatic updates for Windows and have Microsoft's browser set as default are being invited to choose from several browsers. It is expected that the browser Choice Screen will be displayed on over 100 million personal computers (PCs) in Europe between now and mid-May. The central page of the choice screen is also available to any internet user at http: //http://www.browserchoice.eu .
In compliance with the December commitments, computer manufacturers are now able to install competing browsers on Windows PCs instead of, or in addition to, Internet Explorer. Microsoft further committed not to retaliate against PC manufacturers who pre-install a non-Microsoft web browser on the PCs they ship and make it the default web browser. (O.L./transl.fl)