Microsoft Corp has amended its contracts with about 40 European internet service providers regarding the promotion of Internet Explorer, but insists it has nothing to do with current antitrust scrutiny facing the company. However, the new agreements say the ISPs cannot promote IE more heavily than any other browser. Microsoft says it is all part of a year-end review and not related to any official probe from the European Union, at least there was nothing ever formal there, as chairman and CEO Bill Gates put it to the Associated Press in Washington DC, where he arrived on Monday ahead of yesterday’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. Gates is to appear, along with Scott McNealy and Jim Barksdale.
