Microsoft has decided that the last thing it needs in this economy is some combination of the following: fines, legal bills, and a delay of Windows 7. It has offered to adopt the European Union's preferred solution for bowser competition: a browser selector screen at startup.

Although Intel may have been hit with a bigger fine, the multi-year saga of Microsoft's fight with the European Union's Competition Commission may have run up larger legal bills, given its longevity. The most recent point of contention between Redmond and Europe has been the browser; Microsoft bundles its own with its operating systems, but the EU views that as using monopoly power to the detriment of potential competitors.

Earlier this month, word came out that Microsoft was looking to make this matter go away, and it may have succeeded; the European Commission has just announced that Microsoft has agreed to proposed EU remedies and is willing to offer a "browser ballot" to new users.

When the two adversaries squared off some years back over a similar issue, the bundling of Microsoft's media player, the EU ordered Microsoft to offer OEMs a version of Windows without the media software. None of them bit, which made the order rather toothless. So, it wasn't a shock that Microsoft first tried to preempt EU action in the browser market by offering more or less the same thing: Windows would ship without a browser in Europe, and OEMs could choose to add whichever one they would like.

SOURCE: arstechnica.com (http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2009/07/microsoft-caves-to-eu-pressure-will-offer-browser-ballot.ars)