European regulation continues to be a thorn in Microsoft’s side. After years of investigations over alleged anti-competitive practices, the European Commission now has a large body of experienced prosecutors only too ready and willing to take up the cudgels on behalf of European entities, and others. And organisations like Opera Software, the Norway-based web browser company, are only too willing to pick up the Bat-phone to the Commissioner in Brussels. It must be on speed-dial by now.

The latest twist is the launch of two new Microsoft antitrust investigations by the Commission, one of which involves products and technologies for which Microsoft allegedly is withholding interoperability information, including its .Net framework, Office Open XML (OOXML) document format and various server products. The European Commission also has officially started its antitrust investigation into Microsoft’s tying of Internet Explorer to Windows, lodged by – guess who? – Opera Software in mid-December. Not only this, but US firms are happy to lodge complaints with the Commission, including Google, helping the slow down the progress of the Redmond giant.

Microsoft says it will “cooperate fully with the Commission’s investigation”. You can see the guys in Redmond now – just sitting back in their chairs with yet another sigh of resignation…