"I don't think what they have announced today is going to get them off the hook."

That's the first take from Hakon Wium Lie, Opera Software's chief technology officer, following the news that Microsoft will offer Windows 7 in Europe without Internet Explorer pre-installed. The Redmond company made the move under pressure from the European Commission, which has been acting on a December 2007 complaint filed by Oslo, Norway-based Opera.

Microsoft is seeking to ensure that Windows 7 can be launched smoothly around the world on Oct. 22, without antitrust concerns hanging over its head. But Lie said via phone just now that he doesn't think today's actions will be enough.

"I don't think this is going to correct all of what we think is illegal behavior -- the tying over the years," Lie said. "I don't think this is going to restore competition. I think restoring competition is one of the goals of the European Commission. So I don't think this is the end of the case."

Although there may not be a magic solution, the "must carry" provision being contemplated by the commission has a better potential to give users a "genuine choice," he said. Under that concept, Windows would come with several browsers installed in advance, or ready for installation, with users given a choice of which to use as the default, perhaps using a "ballot" approach the first time they log on.

In a new blog post, Microsoft deputy general counsel Dave Heiner acknowledges that Microsoft's steps "cannot, of course, preclude the possibility of alternative approaches emerging through Commission processes." He cites possibilities including the must-carry provision.

"Important details of these approaches would need to be worked out in coordination with the Commission, since they would have a significant impact on computer manufacturers and Web browser vendors, whose interests may differ," Heiner adds. "Given the complexity and competing interests, we don’t believe it would be best for us to adopt such an approach unilaterally."

In the court of public opinion, one challenge for Opera is that the browser market has become more competitive already, without government intervention. Microsoft's worldwide market share was 65.5 percent in May, according to NetApplications data -- down from more than 73 percent a year ago. But the strongest competition for Internet Explorer is Mozilla Firefox, which was at 23 percent last month, with Opera much further back in the pack.

Whatever remedy is reached in Europe, Opera would like to see it apply not just to Europe but to the rest of the world, Lie said. That's another reason the Norwegian browser maker isn't exactly enthused about Microsoft's move.

"It's a worldwide problem with IE lock-in," he said.

In addition, he said, it remains to be seen exactly what Microsoft will remove from the "E" versions of Windows 7 to be sold in Europe. Will it be just the IE logo on the desktop or will the company take out the HTML rendering engine and JavaScript and HTTP support?

Publicly, at least, Microsoft hasn't gone into that level of detail on what will be removed from the European versions. It's clear that it will be more than just the logo on the desktop, but the distinction between Windows and Internet Explorer functionalities under the hood of the operating system has been a subject of intense debate in the past.

"The E versions of Windows 7 will include all the features and functionality of Windows 7 in the rest of the world, other than browsing with Internet Explorer," Microsoft's Heiner writes. He adds that the European versions "will continue to provide all of the underlying platform functionality of the operating system -- applications designed for Windows will run just as well on an E version as on other versions of Windows 7."