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Microsoft probably have a parking space permanently reserved outside the European Commission due to the amount of anti-competition investigations they have had thrown at them. So guess what? Yep, two more investigations are on the way, the first to look at whether Microsoft unfairly ties its Explorer Internet browser to its Windows operating system, the second will look at the interoperability of Microsoft software with rival products.

This inquiry follows on from complaints made by Opera which we covered at the time, and the pan-European software-makers group European Committee for Interoperable Systems.

Unless you have been on Mars you are bound to know the background to this long running saga, but in case you don’t:

• In October 2007, Microsoft agreed to comply with the Commission’s 2004 ruling that it broke European Union competition laws.
• The US firm’s move came after it lost an appeal against the verdict, which included a fine of almost 500m Euros ($745m; £380m).
• Microsoft pledged in October to give third party program developers access to information that will allow them to make systems interoperable with Windows.

Via [BBC]