Microsoft has been fined 561m euros (£484m) by the European Commission for breaking its promise to offer a choice of rival internet browsers.

The EU said that in 2009 Microsoft agreed to make a choice of browsers available to its Windows users in Europe following an anti-trust battle.

But during the roll-out of Windows 7 between May 2011 and July last year the company failed to do so in what the Commission called a "very serious infringement" of its commitment.

Over the period, around 15 million Windows users did not see the so-called browser choice screen which enables users to select their preferred search engine, the EU said.

The Commission vice president in charge of competition policy, Joaquin Almunia, said: "Legally binding commitments reached in antitrust decisions play a very important role in our enforcement policy because they allow for rapid solutions to competition problems.

"A failure to comply is a very serious infringement that must be sanctioned accordingly."

In a statement, Microsoft said it took full responsibility for the "technical error" that caused the lapse.

"We provided the Commission with a complete and candid assessment of the situation, and we have taken steps to strengthen our software development and other processes to help avoid this mistake – or anything similar – in the future," it said.

The fine - which is the first sanction against a company for failing to satisfy a previous EU complaint - will serve as a warning to other technology firms involved in European anti-trust disputes.

Google, for example, is currently in discussions with the EU over how it ranks search engine results.

Microsoft's penalty is the latest in a string of punishments issued by the Commission against the US software giant.

In total, it has been fined 2.16bn euros (£1.87bn) for - among other things - not providing data at fair prices to rivals and for tying its media player to its operating system.

http://news.sky.com/story/1060795/microsoft-fined-over-rival-browser-choice

bankrupt EU just looking for a cash grab

The EU are all little whiny birches and if msgr doesn't want to have to deal with this kind of thing, then they should hire more people in europe

Typical EU behavior.

MS own fault. They signed an agreement, broke it and actually expected to get off without any repercussions? Nope.

eu just bitching , because they need money and hate m$ , simple as that.

The EU are all little whiny birtches and if msft doesn't want to have to deal with this kind of thing, then they should hire more people in europe

Good. They deserve to pay out for this.

I remember at some point with windows 7, the google quick search option stopped working after I installed a mandated windows update. It's as if they were trying to force me to use that bing. So instead I switched to CHROME lol.

Thanks for making it easy for me microsoft!

wow someone at ms messed up bad. altho i agree with all above comment about the eu trying to grab cash where it can.

How are people criticizing the EU over this? Microsoft failed to comply with the agreement, they admitted it themselves. What is the Commission supposed to say, "nah, it's no big deal, don't worry about it?" Does no one else find it odd that the "technical error" lasted a full year before it got fixed?

Yeah, that was intentional. There was no choice but to fine them.