The European Commission has granted Microsoft’s request for an extension to the software giant’s deadline for responding to allegations that it misused its market-dominating position to stifle competition for Web browsers.
On Jan. 17, the EC sent Microsoft a statement of objections that presented the evidence behind the preliminary determination by European antitrust authorities that the software giant’s method of linking Internet Explorer to Windows “harms competition between Web browsers, undermines product innovation, and ultimately reduces consumer choice.”
Initially, Microsoft had until March 17 to formally respond to the charges. But with Wednesday’s extension, Microsoft will have until April 21 to formulate a response.
Evaluating Remedies
In the Windows 7 release candidate, Microsoft added a control panel called Windows Features. “If a feature is deselected, it is not available for use,” said Microsoft’s Windows 7 engineering team last week. “This means the files — binaries and data — are not loaded by the operating system (for security-conscious customers) and not available to users on the computer.”
The inclusion of IE8 on this list is hardly surprising. In January, Microsoft notified the Securities and Exchange Commission that the software giant was facing the prospect of “a significant fine based on sales of Windows operating systems in the European Union.” Microsoft is certainly looking for a way to avoid a repeat of the $1.4 billion fine it paid the EU last June.
Still, the latest Windows 7 changes fall well short of the “ballot screen” approach that EC spokesperson Jonathan Todd described last month, which would enable new PC buyers in Europe to replace Internet Explorer with a competing Web browser, or use both Internet Explorer and a rival browser. On Tuesday, Todd suggested Microsoft may be considering this remedy.
“Microsoft has not told us anything so far,” Todd told the EurActiv portal, which serves…