Europe Opens New Microsoft Inquiry

The European Commission said Tuesday that it was beginning new antitrust proceedings against Microsoft, saying the company had failed to live up to a three-year-old agreement to give users of its Windows software better access to competitors’ Internet browser software.

Microsoft immediately apologized, calling it a technical problem it had learned of only recently. “We deeply regret that this error occurred and we apologize for it,” the company said in a statement .

But the software giant could nonetheless face a substantial fine for breaching the Europe Union’s antitrust rules by defying the terms of a settlement.

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