Microsoft apparently drew one step closer to getting in serious trouble with the European Commission yesterday.  This afternoon, the company admitted to finding out that the European Commission believes its handling of Internet Explorer has been breaking antitrust laws.

Over time, references to Quaero have become less and less frequent; it seemed that the French search project was more likely to fade from existence than challenge Google.  The European Commission has approved $152 million in state aid, however, so Mountain View might not want to forget about it.

"Ouch" doesn’t quite cover it.  The European Commission has fined Microsoft $1.35 billion (in addition to previous penalties) for not abiding by a 2004 antitrust ruling.

Little whispers around Brussels suggest European Commission regulators will allow the big merger of online advertisers to proceed.

Google’s bete noire regarding linking to news stories is at it again, as Copiepresse filed a lawsuit in its backyard against the European Commission.

Oslo-based software maker Opera has formally complained to the European Union about Microsoft’s business practices.

The company’s DoubleClick deal hit an unexpected snag when European Commission members decided to draw out their review to April 2008.

Satisfying competition authorities in Europe will force Google to adopt a laissez-faire attitude when it comes to some of DoubleClick’s operations.