Sunday, January 18, 2009

EU Charges Microsoft

This is crap.

The European Union’s antitrust agency on Saturday confirmed that it has charged Microsoft with breaking the law, saying that the company “shields” Internet Explorer (IE) from “head-to-head competition” by bundling its browser with Windows.

There was a time when other browsers had trouble on a Windows platform, but that’s no longer the case.  I run XP (no, I’ve been avoiding Vista) and I’ve installed, Mozilla, Opera, and even Google’s Chrome.  They all worked fine.  It’s easy to use a different browser than Internet Explorer.  The EU is either behind the times and thinking about Windows 95, or are just trying to continue to extort money out of Microsoft.

(6) Comments
Posted by Owen at 1954 hrs
Foreign Affairs + Law + Technology

  1. My guess is extortion.

    The EU has had it in bad for MS for years now.  The notion that bundling a default web browser with an OPERATING SYSTEM in the era of the Internet is anti-trust is bizarre to me.  I would think that most folks would find it especially strange to purchase a new computer and not have it include a bundled web browser.  After all, how would most people download an alternate web browser if the computer didn’t come with one in the first place?  (Yeah, FTP and all that, I know.  But most rank-and-file computer users do not.)

    I run IE, Firefox, and Chrome on my Vista machine.  I even run them on my dual-boot install of the Windows 7 Ultimate beta.  I’ve installed each because it offers strengths in particular applications (for instance, I’ve never been able to print online postage from the USPS website in IE, but it works like a charm in Firefox.)  There’s nothing in particular in either XP, Vista, or 7 Ultimate that prevents a user from installing the browser of his choice, and designating it as the default browser, at that.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on January 18, 2009 at 2019 hrs


  2. The EU has for years been trying to force MS to offer Windows without IE in the Pollyannish belief that if Windows came without IE, no one would rush out to download and install IE.

    The EU has never gotten over Netscape’s loss of the browser wars.  Why?  Who knows, beyond the faint Euro ties to Netscape vs. the all-American MS.  Combine that with garden-variety EU anti-Americanism (or anti-Capitalism; depends on which -ism is worse in your books), and the windmill-tilting will continue forever.

    If I were MS I’d remove IE from every copy of Windows sold in Europe and replace it with Netscape 1.0 so they can rock the Web circa 1994.  I’d also keep IE out of Windows Update for Euro consumers.  Sooner or later the Euro citizenry would tell the Euro mandarins just where to stick it.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on January 18, 2009 at 2028 hrs


  3. After reading more this is a move by Opera, a browser with a 1% market share, to use EU antitrust law to gain market share.

    Hey guys, Firefox did it the hard way, i.e. build a better browser and they will come.  Market dynamics being what they are (you’re not the first to market with a non-IE product), your browser had better give everyone a reach-around if you expect to take market share the old-fashioned way; earning it.

    [/John Houseman]

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on January 18, 2009 at 2054 hrs


  4. I say take door #3 Monty.

    Posted by yoSAMite on January 18, 2009 at 2138 hrs


  5. I take Extortion for $300 million Trebek.

    It’s not like you CAN’T download another browser…

    and OS X comes with Safari as the stock browser, so why not sue Apple?

    Posted by The Chad on January 18, 2009 at 2330 hrs


  6. I agree with everyone here. EU hates MS - just because they are a big successful American company. If you don’t like MS products - no one is forcing you to use them.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on January 19, 2009 at 1019 hrs


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