The BCS provides an easy way for users to choose any browser. As agreed with the Commission in 2009, Microsoft uses our Windows Update service to send the BCS software to Windows based PCs. Once installed, the BCS software checks to see if Internet Explorer is the default browser and, if it is, the BCS is displayed to the user. The Windows Update system uses “detection logic” to determine which software updates (such as the BCS) to distribute to which PCs. The detection logic for the BCS software was accurate when we began to distribute it in early 2010, and the BCS software was delivered as it should have been. Unfortunately, the engineering team responsible for maintenance of this code did not realize that it needed to update the detection logic for the BCS software when Windows 7 SP1 was released last year. As a result of this error, new PCs with Windows 7 SP1 did not receive the BCS software as they should have.

Since most computer users run earlier versions of Windows, we estimate that the BCS software was properly distributed to about 90% of the PCs that should have received it. We recognize, however, that our obligation was to distribute the BCS to every PC that should have received it. Therefore, we have moved as quickly as we can to address the error and to provide a full accounting of it to the Commission.