European antitrust regulators are giving Microsoft more time to respond to an antitrust complaint over the bundling of Internet Explorer with Windows. Microsoft’s response was due this week but is now due April 21.
Last week, Microsoft confirmed that it would be making IE8 an optional feature in Windows 7. This may not be enough to ward off fines from the EU, if the EU decides that Microsoft deserves its wrist slapped because its current operating systems are tightly integrated with the browser.
The original complaint on the matter was filed by Opera Software with the EU in December, 2007. A year later, the EU determined that it basically agreed with Opera’s anti-trust complaint, giving Microsoft until March 12 to formally respond. Since the start of February, it’s been “everybody aboard.” Google (predictably) jumped in when it applied to become a third-party in the European Commission’s proceeding. This followed Mozilla’s choice to do the same.
Nothing should be read into the fact that Microsoft has gained another month to draft a response. However, a spokesman for the European Commission said it’s not usual for companies to request and receive extensions to their response to the Commission’s statement of objections, according to an article on CNet.
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