Microsoft Accused Of Controlling Net Browser
Opera, have filed a complaint to the European Commission accusing Microsoft of stifling competition by tying its browser to Windows. Stating that the close ties between Internet Explorer and Windows has made it hard for rivals to be a seen as a serious choice for web users.
The European Commission confirmed that it had received the complaint from the Norwegian software firm and said it would be studied carefully. The complaint said the inclusion of Internet Explorer with Windows gave Microsoft an unfair advantage and said that it made competition from rivals harder. However, Microsoft’s Internet browser share has been reduced in recent year due to the success of other Internet surfing programs such as FireFox.
Internet Explorer roughly is used by 80% of web users, with Opera having a 1-2% market share of web users.
The complaint follows Microsoft loosing a long-running competition dispute with the European Commission. After its final appeal against the ruling over its bundling of its media player with Windows, Microsoft had to pay a $690m fine.
Opera said that it wanted the European Commission to make Microsoft separate it’s browser Internet Explorer from Windows. As well as having Windows pre-install alternative browsers on new PCs using Windows and waning them to be forced to follow web specifications rather than its own.
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AerX said,
I think it would be rather crippling if people couldn’t start a fresh install, then have a media player, and a web-browser, without having to go through a setup to decide which one you want.
Why doesn’t Apple ever get complained against like this?
Mike Huang said,
Great read for the day
Keep it up!
-Mike
Internet Explorer Alternative » Microsoft Accused Of Controlling Net Browser said,
[...] The Tao of Mac - HomePage wrote an interesting post today on Microsoft Accused Of Controlling Net BrowserHere’s a quick excerpt…to make Microsoft separate it’s browser Internet Explorer from Windows. As well as having Windows pre-install alternative browsers on new… [...]
Profit Baron dot Com » Microsoft Appeals $1.4 Billion Fine said,
[...] The fines came on top of earlier fines of 280m euros imposed in July 2006, and of 497m euros in March 2004, with the 2004 investigation concluding that Microsoft was guilty of freezing out rivals in products including media players as well as unfairly linking its Internet Explorer browser to its Windows operating system at the expense of rivals. See our previous coverage (here) [...]
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