Brussels - The European Union's executive reacted coldly to Microsoft's Thursday decision to strip the Internet Explorer browser from the new version of its Windows 7 operating system that it sells in Europe, saying that it offered less choice to consumers. The European Commission "had suggested to Microsoft that consumers be provided with a choice of web browsers. Instead Microsoft has apparently decided to supply retail consumers with a version of Windows without a web browser at all," it said in a statement released overnight to Friday.
"Rather than more choice, Microsoft seems to have chosen to provide less," the commission added.
The commission suggested the offer could help to boost competition by allowing computer manufacturers a free choice of the internet browsers they install on their machines.
"Computer manufacturers would appear to be able to choose to install Internet Explorer, which Microsoft will supply free of charge, another browser or multiple browsers," it said.
The commission is currently investigating whether Microsoft's long-standing policy of attaching its own browser to the Windows operating system, which runs on some 95 per cent of the world's personal computers, has stopped rivals marketing their own browsers.
"The specific circumstances of Microsoft's tying of Internet Explorer to Windows in this case would appear to lead to significant consumer harm," the statement said.
The commission is now studying a submission from Microsoft which it received on April 28. It has not set a date for a decision.
In 2004, the EU executive fined Microsoft 493 million euros (608 million dollars at then prices) for anti-competitive behaviour, including attaching its media player to Windows. Additional fines in the case have brought the total to close on 1.7 billion euros.
