The European Commission's investigation into Microsoft's browser policies has expanded to include accusations that Redmond discouraged computer makers from providing access to rival browsers, limited API access, and ditched support for other browsers in Windows RT.
"We are looking into issues concerning Windows 8," as it relates to a 2009 agreement regarding Internet Explorer and Windows, an EU spokesman confirmed this afternoon.
Microsoft on Tuesday admitted that it failed to roll out the mandated "browser screen choice" (BCS) to users of Windows 7 service pack 1 (SP1), prompting an EU investigation.
The controversy dates back to 2009, when the European Commission announced that Microsoft violated European competition law by bundling its Internet Explorer browser with Windows. As a result, Microsoft said it would ship a version of Windows 7 with a "browser ballot" that would allow users to select which browser they wanted during the OS installation process. The EU approved that plan in Dec. 2009 and it started rolling out two months later.
As first reported by Reuters, however, the EU's investigation will go beyond the exclusion of the browser ballot, and tackle three other issues.
According to the commission, Microsoft has been accused of discouraging its hardware partners from setting rival browsers as the default browser in Windows 8 - by either paying them to use IE or withholding payment from those who select rival software.
In addition, Microsoft has not provided access to APIs for Windows RT or non-default browsers in Windows 8, critics allege.
Finally, Microsoft has denied third-party browser access to Windows RT, the Windows on ARM version of the upcoming Windows 8 OS. This issue made headlines in May, when Mozilla argued that "Windows on ARM - as currently designed - restricts user choice, reduces competition and chills innovation." Google also agreed.
"Third parties allege" that these incidents have occurred, but the commission has not yet received any formal complaints, the spokesman said.
The 2009 deal with the EU banned Microsoft from retaliating against OEMs that selected rival browsers and ordered Microsoft to provide IE API access.
When asked about the expanded investigation, a Microsoft spokeswoman pointed PCMag to the company's Tuesday statement about the browser ballot mixup.
Microsoft blamed that problem on a "technical error." The company's Windows Update system uses a "detection login" to determine which software updates - like the BCS - to distribute to which PCs. "Unfortunately, the engineering team responsible for maintenance of this code did not realize that it needed to update the detection logic for the BCS software when Windows 7 SP1 was released last year," Microsoft said. "As a result of this error, new PCs with Windows 7 SP1 did not receive the BCS software as they should have."
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