"The addition of a new statement of objections to this process is unfortunate as it lengthens the proceedings," Tiffany Steckler, a Microsoft spokeswoman, said after Wednesday's announcement.
Monti's options are to reach a settlement or force conditions on Microsoft that would almost certainly be appealed to the same court that dealt the merger setbacks and is currently reviewing the General Electric-Honeywell decision.
Microsoft would probably win an emergency injunction against antitrust sanctions from the EU's Court of First Instance by arguing that its business would suffer irrevocable harm, lawyers said. A final court ruling would take three or four years.
Microsoft is unlikely to accept splitting Media Player from Windows because of the precedent that will set for other software under development.
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