By KEVIN J. O’BRIEN, New York Times

BERLIN — European regulators dropped their antitrust case against Microsoft on Wednesday after the software maker agreed to offer consumers a choice of rival Web browsers. The settlement averted a second costly legal battle for the American software giant.

The agreement, announced in Brussels by the European competition commissioner, Neelie Kroes, calls for Microsoft to give Windows users a choice of up to 11 other browsers from competing companies, including Mozilla, Apple and Google.

Users of Microsoft’s ubiquitous Windows operating system in Europe who have chosen its Internet Explorer as their default browser will receive in a software update an option to switch to a rival, starting next year.

“Millions of European consumers will benefit from this decision by having a free choice about which web browser they use,” Ms. Kroes said in a statement.

In a statement, Microsoft said it was “pleased” with the decision. Jesse Verstraete, a Microsoft spokesman in Brussels, said the company has no plans to extend the offer beyond the 27-member European Union, plus Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein.

Still, the settlement underlines, according to legal experts, the increasingly conciliatory posture being taken by U.S. technology companies to avoid sanctions — and to be able to keep doing business — in Europe.

“These companies recognized that the European Commission is playing a significant role in global antitrust law and must be taken seriously,” Susanne Zuehlke, an antitrust lawyer in Brussels at the U.S. firm of Latham & Watkins, said ahead of the announcement. “Of course, the huge fines recently have also focused everyone’s attention.”

For Microsoft, the settlement is a stark contrast to its acrimonious first legal clash with European officials, which resulted in fines of €1.68 billion, or $2.44 billion and an order to change some business practices. That case, which lasted nearly a decade, ended in October 2007 when Microsoft dropped its appeal of a commission judgment that it had abused the dominance of Windows to aid its media player and server businesses.

Two months after Microsoft gave up, Opera, a small Norwegian browser maker, filed its complaint over browsers, instigating the second case.

Google, which makes the Chrome browser, and Mozilla, makers of Firefox, signed on as opponents in the case. The commission in January said Microsoft’s bundling of Internet Explorer in Windows was harming competition. In July, Microsoft proposed the browser distribution plan which, after adjustment to appease rivals, led to the settlement.

Rival browser makers said the agreement represented a huge opportunity for their own Internet-surfing software, which they said would also give Europeans more choice and a better ability to compare browsers.

“I think this settlement has the potential to change the status quo,” Sundar Pichai, the head of Google’s Chrome browser team and Chrome web-based operating system, said. “Most consumers in the past have chosen Internet Explorer because it came on their computers. Now the decision will be made on the merits.”

Microsoft’s Windows operating system runs more than 90 percent of all computers in the world.

Under terms of the European settlement, Microsoft will, by mid-March, send ballot screens via automatic software updates to 100 million users of Windows XP, Vista and 7 operating systems in Europe who have set Internet Explorer as their main browser.

Through March 2015, the screens will also be automatically sent to purchasers of new Windows-based computers, an estimated 30 million per year. Computer makers will also have the ability to turn off Internet Explorer before sale and install rival browsers.

On the ballot screen, consumers initially will be able to choose from Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, Chrome, Opera, AOL, Maxthon, K-Meleon, Flock, Avant Browser, Sleipnir and Slim Browser. The first five, which are the most widely used, will be prominently displayed, and the others will be shown when a user scrolls sideways on the screen.

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