TipAdept Dot Com

After more than 10 years of antitrust issues in Europe, Microsoft is finally putting the drama to rest. On Wednesday, the European Commission approved a final resolution of several long-standing competition issues.

"Today's resolution follows years of intensive examination by the European Commission of competition in computer software," said Brad Smith, senior vice president and general counsel at Microsoft. "The measures approved today reflect multiple rounds of input from industry participants relating to competition in web browser software and interoperability between various Microsoft products and competing products."

Opera All Grins

First, the web browser measures. Under the resolution, Microsoft has committed to allowing PC manufacturers and users to install any browser on top of Windows, to make any browser the default browser on new PCs, and to turn access to Internet Explorer on or off.

What's more, Smith explained, Microsoft will send a "browser choice" screen to Windows users who are running Internet Explorer as their default browser. "This browser choice screen will present a list of browsers, making it easy for users to install any one of them," Smith said. "It will be provided both to users of new computers and to the installed base of Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7 computers in Europe where Internet Explorer is set as the default browser."

Opera Software, one of the companies that filed a complaint against Microsoft with the EC, applauded the commission's decision. Jon von Tetzchner, CEO of Opera Software, called it a victory for the future of the web.

"This decision is also a celebration of open web standards, as these shared guidelines are the necessary ingredients for innovation on the web," von Tetzchner said. "Opera has long been at the forefront of web standards, which ensures that people have equal access to the web anytime, anywhere and on any device. We see...