The European Commission said Wednesday it plans to fine Microsoft for what it calls continuing abuses of the software giant's dominant market position and to force the company to change the way it distributes Media Player. In the commission's strongest statement yet in the long-running antitrust probe of Microsoft, the body also said it could order the tech giant to open the code for its computer server software to outside companies. The European Commission--the European Union's executive arm--believes it has a strong case against Microsoft, a commission spokesman said, and the amount of the fine will be linked to the severity and duration of Microsoft's perceived offense.

"At this stage, we have so much evidence and we are in possession of such substantive a file that we believe any decision we take will withstand scrutiny of the European court," commission spokesman Tilman Lueder said at a briefing. The commission accused Microsoft of leveraging its dominant position in media player software, which plays video on computers, and in low-end server software, which manages everything from Web sites to e-mail systems.