That’s the sound of a monkey sliding off your back. Or fingernails on a chalkboard followed by a face palm…

Say hello to the EU-required Web Browser “Choice Screen” of Windows.

BusinessWeek: Microsoft and EU Settle Browser Case – Ending more than a decade of antitrust prosecution in Brussels, Microsoft today agreed to a deal that should give consumers more choice among browsers […] Consumers who buy personal computers will be given a choice of the 12 most widely used browsers to install in addition to, or instead of, Microsoft’s, the European Commission said in a statement. The deal also allows computer makers to ship PCs without Internet Explorer. “For the first time in over a decade, Internet users in Europe will have an effective and unbiased choice between Microsoft’s Internet Explorer and competing Web browsers, such as Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Apple Safari and Opera,” said Kroes.

Uh… weren’t you always able to install any browser at any time? I have often had four on the same machine, when working on web projects… and with Windows 7 you can easily uninstall IE entirely. I know, because I’ve done that too. Oh, wait, here’s another blurb from the very same article that has some more interesting insight:

The accord eliminates the possibility of Microsoft having to pay a large fine and means the company can increase focus on a shrinking market share in Europe. Mozilla Corp.’s Firefox overtook Internet Explorer as the most popular browser in Germany, according to a study by Fittkau and Maass this month. Microsoft was fined 1.68 billion euros ($2.46 billion) in previous EU antitrust probes.

So, let me see if I follow this… the EU sues claiming that there’s no choice of browser and/or the browser is too tied to the OS. Meanwhile, OSX ships with Safari in the box, Google’s coming Chrome OS is entirely based around a web browser, and without the “Choice Screen” active in the EU (seeing as it’s going to be released in Q1 2010) there was an entire nation of people that chose to use a browser other than IE… that they opted to download their own browser and use that based off their own choice. Um… well then…

At least it sounds like this ends the pickpocketing of the EU from a US company, although I do have to wonder who has to pony up the case to build the “Choice Screen”, localize it, and release it into the wild… can’t see the EU going into their pocket for that bit.

Safe to say that I’m happier being an American than an EU citizen today.