Long-term dispute between the EU and Microsoft Corp is likely to come to an end next week when EU antitrust regulators will accept company’s amended offer on allowing consumer choice on Internet browsers.

 European Commission was expected to approve Microsoft's plan to make it easier for consumers to choose rival browsers on the firm's Windows operating system, which is used on a majority of personal computers.

This decision would let Microsoft avoid another hefty penalty, after it had been fined a total of €1.68 billion ($2.5 billion) by the EC over charges it violated EU antitrust rules.

Microsoft amended its proposals for the second time after rivals such as Norwegian browser market player Opera and Google complained to the Commission, the EU's executive arm, that the remedy announced on October 7 would not be effective
The order of the browsers will be randomly presented instead of alphabetically in the original proposal. The presentation of the ballot screen is as neutral as possible, according to the person familiar with the deal.

The Commission said it was assessing Microsoft's commitments to take into account the market test. "The Commission will not accept any commitments unless consumers are ensured a real, viable choice," Jonathan Todd, EC spokesman, said.

Until November 7 EC had been seeking for feedback from Microsoft's rivals, computer makers and other interested parties on the company's proposed ballot screen, amended after an informal market test.

Opera, whose 2007 complaint on Microsoft's tying of its Internet Explorer browser to its Windows operating system had triggered the EC’s piloting, claimed the changes would benefit users.