(BRUSSELS) - The European Commission said on Thursday it would scrutinise a decision by Microsoft to make its Office programme compatible with a rival document format.

With the US software giant embroiled in an antitrust standoff with Europe's top antitrust watchdog, the company said on Wednesday that Office would support the competing Open Document Format (ODF) from the first half of 2009.

In a short reaction, the commission said that it had "taken note" of the announcement and would "welcome any step that Microsoft took towards genuine interoperability, more consumer choice and less vendor lock-in."

It added that it "will investigate whether the announced support of ODF in Office leads to better interoperability and allows consumers to process and exchange their documents with the software product of their choice."

The European Commission has long accused Microsoft of abusing its dominant market power by making software that is incompatible with products made by its rivals.

In September, Microsoft lost an appeal before Europe's second-highest court against a fine of nearly 500 million euros (788 million dollars) that EU regulators slapped on the company in 2004 for abusing its dominant market power.

Since its court victory, the European Commission has launched a new investigation targetting the interoperability of a broad range of software, including Microsoft's popular Office package, with rival products.

In February, the commission hit Microsoft with a further fine of 899 million euros for defying its 2004 ruling. Microsoft has lodged an appeal against the decision.

Announcing the company's latest move, Microsoft senior vice president Chris Capossela said: "We are committed to providing Office users with greater choice among document formats and enhanced interoperability."

EU Competition Commission Neelie Kroes said that the commission was in "close contact" with Microsoft both on a technical level and with its management.

"They are aware what they have to deliver," Kroes told journalists on the sidelines of a conference in Slovenia.

The European Committee for Interoperable Systems, a group of Microsoft rivals including tech giants like IBM, Nokia and Oracle, said Microsoft's announcement marked "steps in the right direction" but were "not nearly enough."

"A closer look at their substance suggests that Microsoft is still playing for time to further consolidate its super-dominant position, and that continued anti-trust vigilance will be necessary," ECIS spokesman Thomas Vinje said.

He described Microsoft's target of supporting ODF by the first half of 2009 as "pretty underwhelming."

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