The European Union (EU) said today that it won't investigate Microsoft's forthcoming Windows XP but will instead focus on the previous Windows products such as Windows 2000 and Windows Me. The comments came up during questions about reports in a UK paper that EU Competition Commissioner Mario Monti is making preliminary inquiries into XP's anticompetitive technologies. Amelia Torres, a spokesperson for Monti, said those reports aren't accurate.
"At this point, the Commission is not examining XP officially or unofficially," Torres said. Torres noted that there haven't been any new developments in Microsoft's European antitrust case since late August, when the EU sent the company a statement of objections, to which it must respond. The statement of objections included complaints about the company's bundling of Internet Explorer (IE) and Windows Media Player (WMP) in previous versions of Windows.
"We still await Microsoft's reply," Torres said. Last week, the EU extended the deadline for Microsoft's reply, although it declined to specify the new due date.
