BERLIN--Microsoft has agreed to reconfigure its Windows operating system in Europe to address two main complaints from rival Internet browser makers, a concession that could lead to the settlement of its latest antitrust case before the European Commission. A person with knowledge of the commission?s plans said Microsoft had agreed to change the display of a ballot screen that European Union consumers would use to automatically download an Internet browser for their Windows-based computers. Microsoft has agreed to randomly generate the logos of the major browser makers on the ballot screen, and to remove the Windows Internet Explorer logo from the screen frame, said the person, who was not authorized to speak publicly on the plan. The changes were requested by Opera, a Norwegian browser maker, Mozilla and Google as preconditions to closing the case before European officials. Rival browser makers had been upset that Microsoft had planned to list the browser choices alphabetically, giving Apple?s Safari browser an advantage.
Microsoft?s Windows operates more than 90 percent of the world?s computers. In January, the commission decided that bundling Internet Explorer into Windows constituted an abuse of Microsoft?s market position.
Seeking to avoid another lengthy and costly dispute with antitrust officials, Microsoft offered to settle the case by giving European consumers the ability to download rival browsers directly from a Windows screen.
The ballot screens would come preloaded on new Windows 7-based computers sold in Europe, and the same ballot screens would be sent via automatic software updates to current users of Windows systems.
The proposal will now go to the full European Commission, which could approve the settlement before its holiday break.
All parties to the negotiations--Microsoft; Google; Mozilla, which makes the Firefox browser; and Opera, which filed the initial complaint that led to the commission?s investigation and ruling--declined to comment.
In 2007, Microsoft ended a 10-year battle in Europe when it abandoned its appeal of a 2004 commission ruling that the company had abused its Windows dominance to promote its own media player and to favor its own server software business. The commission required Microsoft to sell a brand of Windows without the media player, but that version, which cost the same as the full Windows software, was a commercial flop.
It is unclear what effect Microsoft?s concessions will have on the European browser market, which it also dominates. Most consumers can already download rival browsers free and many routinely have more than one.
According to AT Internet Institute, a research firm in Merignac, France, Microsoft?s share of the European browser market is slipping and Internet Explorer now trails Firefox in Hungary and Slovakia.
Internet Explorer?s share of the European browser market fell to 62 percent in September, from 64.6 percent in March, according to AT Internet. Firefox?s share rose to 28.4 percent, from 27.8 percent, while Apple?s Safari rose to 4.3 percent, from 3.3 percent, followed by Chrome at 2.8 percent and Opera at 2.2 percent.
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