Microsoft agrees to EU Windows demands

Microsoft will adopt all changes imposed by EU antitrust regulators to its stripped-down version of Windows sold without the Media Player program.

US software maker’s top lawyer in Europe, Horacio Gutierrez, said today the company had contacted the European Commission in Brussels “to inform them that we have accepted all the main changes they have requested”.

Changes to the Windows program will include deleting references to Media Player from product documentation, boxes and help files. Alterations also include creating a software package that allows consumers to put back the programs and settings that were removed from the Media Player-less version, which EU regulators demanded Microsoft to offer consumers.

Microsoft also agreed to restore settings that it had previously removed but which competitors such as RealNetworks had asked to be restored.

The company said it had agreed with the EU on a name for its Media Player-less version of Windows, which will be sold in Europe.

The EU fined Microsoft a record £355m (€515m) after ruling that the company abusively wielded its Windows software monopoly to lock competitors out of the market.