Microsoft agrees to change Vista to meet EU requirements in first service pack
Microsoft continues to face run-ins with the European Union about its software and anti-competitiveness.
In the latest skirmish, it has agreed to update Vista to meet the EU’s requirements in its first service pack due out later this year.
Changes centre around built-in Vista security features including the Windows Security Centre that gives users an overview of what security software is running on their PC, PatchGuard, and changes to Vista and Internet Explorer 7’s search functionality to allow users to explicitly choose their search engine.
Microsoft is set to make a set of APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) available to competing software vendors so that they can build security software that isn’t blocked or throttled by Vista’s own systems. This is an issue that has been rumbling on for some time and these new measures should hopefully appease both rival software makers, and the EU behemoth.
In addition, customers and OEMs will be able to buy a copy of Vista without Microsoft’s Media Player built-in, though at some point down the line you can bet anyone with these versions will have to install it for some movie or music file or other.
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