EC May Hand Microsoft Its Head

The European Commission said Thursday that it’s going to take Microsoft to the woodshed and formally charge it with breaching a 2009 agreement to offer European users of Windows a mess of alternative browsers, a deal struck to settle a brewing antitrust case.
Microsoft admitted the oversight blaming it on a technical problem and offered to extend the term of its compliance by 15 months.
Antitrust czar Joaquin Almunia said his people are running up the statement of objections.
Presumably it’ll mean another hefty fine on top of the $1.28 billion Microsoft’s already paid the regulator, especially since it’s the second time the company has failed to comply with an EC order, something no other company has ever done.

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