Brussels - The European Commission on Tuesday warned US- computer giant Microsoft against bundling security upgrades into its new Windows Vista operating system.
Such a move would hamper competition in the market, a commission spokesman told reporters, adding that existing competition and diversity were the best way of improving software security.
'Diversity and innovation could be at risk if Microsoft were allowed to foreclose the existing competition in computer security markets ... by bundling its own security products into its dominant operating system,' the spokesman said.
Microsoft must ensure full compliance with EU competition rules, 'and in particular the prohibition on abuse of a dominant market position,' he added.
The computer firm on Tuesday said that it hopes the EU executive will not require the removal of important security features for the Vista operating system.
Windows currently runs more than 90 per cent of the world's PCs and Vista is the company's first new operating system for five years, offering a new look, improved security features and better search capabilities.
The commission in July slapped an unprecedented 280.5 million euro fine (357 million dollars) on Microsoft for breaching the bloc's anti-trust rules and threatened the company with further daily penalties worth 3 million euros.
The EU executive and the US computer giant have been embroiled in an acrimonious anti-trust row since March 2004 when EU regulators ruled that Microsoft had abused its dominant position. The Commission ordered the company to share its software with rivals.
© 2006 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
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