EU: Microsoft ends implementation of 2009 landmark antitrust concessions

Five years after EU authorities forced Microsoft to display a browser choice screen for its consumers as part of a landmark antitrust ruling, reports say the company has pulled the plug on the screen.

The European Commission demanded Microsoft show the screen to allow users to choose which browser to use, an order that was part of a settlement reached with the company following an investigation into allegations that Microsoft’s tying of Internet Explorer with Windows was anticompetitive. The settlement was reached in 2009.

The screen provided download links for rival browsers, including Google Chrome and Apple Safari. It was displayed only in the EU.

Microsoft announced Wednesday that it would retire the screen. In a statement, the company said “the obligations imposed by that decision have expired and as a result the Browser Choice Update will no longer be delivered to new users.

Just last year, the Commission fined Microsoft $732 million for omitting the ballot screen from its Windows 7 Service Pack 1 for 14 months, reports say. Microsoft claimed it was a technical error.

Full content: Computer World

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