The US software giant said earlier Thursday it still plans to release its next-generation operating system worldwide on October 22, but that customers in Europe would have to install Web browsers of their choice.<\/p>\n
The commission, Europe’s top competition watchdog, opened a new front in its epic anti-trust battle with Microsoft in January.<\/p>\n
It hit the company with fresh charges of unfairly squashing competition by bundling its Internet Explorer web browser into its ubiquitous Windows personal computer operating system.<\/p>\n
The commission said it would decide soon whether it considered Microsoft to have abused its position and what remedies were necessary to give consumers genuine choice.<\/p>\n
“In terms of potential remedies, if the Commission were to find that Microsoft had committed an abuse, the Commission has suggested that consumers should be offered a choice of browser not that Windows should be supplied without a browser at all,” it said in a statement.<\/p>\n