It looks like Microsoft knew that it had about a snowball's chance in hell against European Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes.

On Friday, news arrived that Microsoft will do what Kroes wants, which is change Vista.

Vista e as it the Euro version is tipped to be named, won't come with Microsoft's antivirus and security software, and security vendors will have access to the kernel - PatchGuard notwithstanding. There will be no default MSN Search in Internet Explorer either and Microsoft will give away its new "PDF killer" format, XPF.

If Microsoft had refused to comply with the Commission, Kroes could've fined it €3 million a day - from July 31! Clearly, Microsoft added that to the cost of not being able to release Vista in time quite some while ago, because all of a sudden there are no problems doing what the Commission wants.

Vista will be released on time in Europe now, indicating that MS had already prepared for EU not to yield. South Koreans will get a similar version of Vista as well.

However, is it such a good idea by the EU to force Microsoft take out features from Vista? Opinion is divided here, with the EU and security vendors saying one thing, and Microsofties vehemently disagreeing. On my Geekzone blog, I translated a letter to Kroes from the former head of Microsoft Belgium and Luxembourg, Bruno Segers.

Segers reckons that Europeans won't buy Vista e, and bases this on Microsoft's experience with the Euro version of XP, which had Windows Media Player stripped out of it. Instead, people bought full overseas versions. This, Seger says, will lead to European software businesses losing money - and, offer customers a less secure operating system than people overseas will get.