Analysis: EU’s Internet Explorer ruling looks back to 1990s
The EU has filed a new Statement of Objections against Microsoft, this time alleging that the company's practice of bundling Internet Explorer with Windows violates EU antitrust law. According to a statement released by the government body, "Microsoft's tying of Internet Explorer to the Windows operating system harms competition between web browsers, undermines product innovation and ultimately reduces consumer choice."
The statement comes in response to a complaint filed in late 2007 by Opera, in which that company accused Microsoft of abusing its dominant position in the browser market by tying Internet Explorer to Windows and by failing to comply with web standards.
The current Statement is based on the Court of First Instance's findings in 2004 when it held that Microsoft had abused its dominant market position. Based on this, the EU has found that Microsoft's market share (over 90 percent) gave the company a potentially unfair advantage and shielded IE from true head-to-head competition in the browser market. The Commission is also concerned that the constant presence of IE across the market created "artificial incentives" for content providers and software developers. Presumably, this led to the departure from web standards that has Opera upset.
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Opera is free. Firefox is free. Opera bills itself as the better alternative to other browsers—and so does Firefox. Obviously somewhere along the line, the Mozilla Foundation did something right that the Opera folks didn't do (it might be as simple as being in the right place at the right time). Both Opera and Firefox competed hard against Microsoft with free alternatives—and with very different results.
