Microsoft Developer on Ulitzer

In response to Opera's complaints Microsoft has reportedly modified the proposed ballot screen that's supposed to get it out from under the European Commission's latest antitrust charges.

Rather than be inside Internet Explorer, the ballot screen offering Windows users alternatives to IE will appear in a web-page format and the choice of the top five browsers in Europe including IE will appear randomly rather than alphabetically, according to Bloomberg.

According to Dow Jones the Microsoft logo at the top of the page will disappear too along with a warning suggesting that IE should be the default.

Opera, which brought the original complaint, has a minuscule piece of the market.

Bloomberg, quoting hints from the EC and a clearer statement from Opera, expects the antitrust settlement between the EC and Microsoft to be clinched by December 15.