EU Close to Fining Microsoft

Over web browser access of its customers

The clock is ticking on Microsoft. Reuters is reporting today that regulators in Europe intend to levy a potentially hefty fine on the software company in connection with a long-running antitrust case.

Quoting a couple of people described as being "familiar with the matter," Reuters says the fine might be "significant."

Microsoft has been in hot water with the European Commission for some time. Last fall, regulators said the company reneged on a 2009 promise to give Windows consumers more choice among rival Internet browsers. The latest bit of upset has to do with Microsoft's failure to include a "browser choice" screen for European users in the latest version of Windows 7 last year. At the time, Microsoft said it was an oversight, blaming a technical error which missed the update in February 2011 in store shelf copies of the operating system. All told, roughly 28 million European users may have been affected.