One complaint relates to interoperability issues, with a European standards committee saying Microsoft does not adequately disclose interoperability information on a wide range of products ranging from its Office suite to its .NET framework.
In a statement, the European Commission said that in its Microsoft judgment of September last year, the Court of First Instance had confirmed principle that must be respected by dominant companies as regards interoperability disclosures.
The complaint by the European Committee for Interoperable Systems says Microsoft is alleged to have illegally refused to disclose interoperability information.
The Commission's investigation will focus on Office, .NET and other product areas, and will include an investigation of whether Microsoft's new file format Office Open XML, as implemented in Office, is sufficiently interoperable with competitors' products.
The second area where proceedings have been opened is in tying of separate software products following a complaint by the open source browser, Opera. Microsoft is alleged to have engaged in illegal tying of its Internet Explorer product to its dominant Windows operating system.
The complaint alleges that there is ongoing competitive harm from Microsoft's practices, in particular in view of new proprietary technologies that Microsoft has allegedly introduced in its browser that would reduce compatibility with open internet standards, and therefore hinder competition.
Microsoft said it would cooperate fully with the investigation. “We are committed to ensuring that Microsoft is in full compliance with European law and our obligations as established by the European Court of First Instance in its September 2007 ruling,” the company said in a statement.
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