January 19, 2009 - 5:44am
The attack was launched by Europeans in a sort of echo of the first big Microsoft antitrust battle, when it was accused by the US of unfairly blocking internet pioneer Netscape during the "browser wars" in the mid-1990s. In case the latest attack is successful, European internet users would find more convenient other than Internet Explorer browsers, which appeared to be the industry standard after Netscape was defeated.
It’s known that a similar protest was carrying out about 12 years ago in the US, although the remedies that were forced on Microsoft did not enough to beat its dominance of the business, at least until recently.
The complaint from European Union regulators came in a statement of protest privately sent to Microsoft on Thursday. After Microsoft disclosed the existence of the complaint the European Commission confirmed its protest. The European charges were supported by a complaint from Opera, a Norwegian browser maker, which took advantage of a landmark European ruling against Microsoft in 2007 to make its case. In that case, Europe's Court of the First Instance ruled against Microsoft's practice of "tying" its Media Player software with Windows, a move that opened the way to similar attacks on other software.
The European regulators' attack intends to make Microsoft include rival browsers with Windows simultaneously with Internet Explorer and therefore give users option. They pretend to turn Windows into a system that distributes other companies' software.
The attack was launched by Europeans in a sort of echo of the first big Microsoft antitrust battle, when it was accused by the US of unfairly blocking internet pioneer Netscape during the "browser wars" in the mid-1990s. In case the latest attack is successful, European internet users would find more convenient other than Internet Explorer browsers, which appeared to be the industry standard after Netscape was defeated.
It’s known that a similar protest was carrying out about 12 years ago in the US, although the remedies that were forced on Microsoft did not enough to beat its dominance of the business, at least until recently.
The complaint from European Union regulators came in a statement of protest privately sent to Microsoft on Thursday. After Microsoft disclosed the existence of the complaint the European Commission confirmed its protest. The European charges were supported by a complaint from Opera, a Norwegian browser maker, which took advantage of a landmark European ruling against Microsoft in 2007 to make its case. In that case, Europe's Court of the First Instance ruled against Microsoft's practice of "tying" its Media Player software with Windows, a move that opened the way to similar attacks on other software.