Comments
The European Commission threatened Microsoft with another big fine on Tuesday after the US software giant failed to give 28 million European customers the ability to choose their web browser.
Microsoft immediately apologised for the “technical error” after 28 million users of the Windows 7 operating system were unable to choose between the company’s default Internet Explorer and other browsers.
“While we have taken immediate steps to remedy this problem, we deeply regret that this error occurred and we apologise for it,” the US company said in a statement.
In order to ease European Union competition concerns in 2009, the US software giant committed to provide Windows users in Europe a “choice screen” enabling them to choose an alternative web browser until 2014.
But the screen has been missing from a service pack 1 update to Windows 7 since February 2011.
“We have fallen short in our responsibility to do this,” Microsoft said.
The European Union’s executive arm announced an antitrust probe against Microsoft, which has already been fined hundreds of millions of euros in a separate case.
“We are now opening formal proceedings against the company,” European Union Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia told a news conference.
“If following our investigation this breach is confirmed, and Microsoft seems to acknowledge the facts here, this could have severe consequences,” he said. “If infringements are confirmed, there will be sanctions.”
A company that is found to have breached legally-binding commitments can face fines of up to 10 per cent of total annual turnover.
Microsoft had stated in a report to Brussels on December 2011 that it was complying with the 2009 commitments, but “market players” later revealed that the company was breaking its pledge, Mr Almunia said.
“I consider that commitments by companies themselves are a good way to solve competition problems... as an alternative to lengthy proceedings,” he said. “But this can only work if companies implement these decisions fully.”
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.