On Wednesday, the European Union settled its browser bundling investigation of Microsoft, and accepted their promise to provide current Windows users with another and more obvious chance to pick an alternative to Internet Explorer.

For the next five years, Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7 users in 30 different European countries will be shown a “browser choice” screen through Windows update, giving them the opportunity to download a different browser. Buyers who purchase a new Microsoft-powered computer from third-party manufacturers will see a screen similar to this.
Microsoft also agreed to:

“Ensure that developers throughout the industry, including in the open source community, will have access to technical documentation to assist them in building products that work well with Microsoft products.”

If Microsoft fails to live up to these conditions, the EC can fine Microsoft up to 10% of its revenue, which totaled $60 billion in 2008.

The agreement settles a long-running investigation that grew out of the European Commission’s antitrust investigation in 2003 and 2004 which declared that Microsoft had abused its dominance in operating systems by tying Windows Media Player to its operating system.

Of course all will remember the American Justice Department’s legendary Clinton-era attempt to disperse Microsoft’s monopoly into separate companies.

Over the last decade, the commission has levied fines of about $2.5 billion on Microsoft for antitrust violations and not adhering to its promises. The company still provides operating systems for some 90% of personal computers.

In January 2009, the European Commission filed official objections to tying IE closely to Windows, arguing it gave Microsoft an unfair marketing and distribution advantage over rival browsers.

Firefox, developed by the nonprofit Mozilla, now claims about 25% of the worldwide marketplace, followed by Google’s Chrome, Apple’s Safari, Opera and Camino. IE, including the web-developer–dreaded IE 6 still has 65% of the market cornered.

Microsoft’s stock rose slightly after Tuesday’s announcement.