Chapter 2?

When the European Commission's top anti-trust gun Neelie Kroes was in Japan this week, she confirmed the commission is studying a recent complaint lobbed at Microsoft. The complaint alleges anti-trust behavior by Microsoft in regard to its Office applications products.

But whether that informal review leads to anything more has yet to be seen.

"We are studying the complaint, but no formal procedure has been opened," a commission spokeswoman said.

Kroes, while in Japan, reportedly told the press that the commission may launch a new investigation into the software giant on whether its abusing its market dominance when it comes to its Office products, according to a Bloomberg News report in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Such an action would stem from a recent complaint filed by the European Committee for Interoperable Systems (ECIS), whose members include IBM, Sun Microsystems, Oracle and others. The group filed a complaint with the commission in late February, citing anti-trust concerns relating to Microsoft's Office applications.

If the commission opens another investigation into Microsoft, it would make a bad situation even worse for the software maker. It's currently battling the commission on its historic order, which calls for the software maker to provide information on its protocols to rivals who are seeking interoperability with Microsoft's operating system. Microsoft and the EC are in a heated debate over whether the software maker has complied with the order - which could result in a fine of up to 2 million Euros a day if Microsoft is not.