Microsoft/EU antitrust case: It's not just about bundling!

January 19, 2009 · by Haavard

Most people are focusing solely on the bundling of IE, while the EC has actually considered another important part of Opera's complaint, namely Microsoft undermining standards:

In addition, the Commission is concerned that the ubiquity of Internet Explorer creates artificial incentives for content providers and software developers to design websites or software primarily for Internet Explorer which ultimately risks undermining competition and innovation in the provision of services to consumers.

Remember, Opera forced Microsoft to default to standards mode in IE8, so it is too bad that most people seem to ignore the standards aspect.

Then again, perhaps forcing Microsoft to adhere to standards is less controversial than unbundling IE?

What people need to keep in mind is that Microsoft has abused its monopoly, and as a monopolist one has to follow certain rules that other companies don't have to follow. Microsoft did not follow those rules, and by not doing so, they broke the law.

Opera Software did not sue Microsoft. Opera Software reported to the EC that Microsoft seemed to be breaking the law, and the EC agreed.

Breaking the law has consequences whether you agree with the law or not.

Readers' comments 13

Left under the original article, as archived.

Charles SchlossMonday, January 19, 2009 1:56:21 PM
how many standards has the IE team fallen behind on?
mabdulTuesday, January 20, 2009 3:56:43 PM
how many have they created?
who makes the standards? (w3c, iso, ietf, somebody else?)?!?
FataLWednesday, January 28, 2009 6:34:29 PM
IE 8 team belives that they have the most complete implementation of CSS 2.1
I hope that Opera Software also will do everything they can to fix most CSS bugs for version 10 of their browser.
Charles SchlossWednesday, January 28, 2009 6:39:09 PM
FataL my guess is they are trying to show off
FataLWednesday, January 28, 2009 7:26:57 PM
Chas4, I think that completion of ACID 3 test is much bigger show off than conformance to CSS 2.1 standard
Charles SchlossWednesday, January 28, 2009 7:35:46 PM
the number (1000's) of test the IE team sent in, that is what I was looking at
FataLWednesday, January 28, 2009 7:43:35 PM
All that tests are great support for CSS standardization. The more tests, the better!
Charles SchlossWednesday, January 28, 2009 7:47:04 PM
how many of the test have be tested?
Charles SchlossMonday, February 9, 2009 6:56:21 PM
Mozilla to Join EU Suit Against Microsoft

http://my.opera.com/Chas4/blog/2009/02/09/mozilla-to-join-eu-suit-against-microsoft

http://files.myopera.com/Tamil/Smilies/Dance.gif -
mabdulFriday, February 27, 2009 3:46:03 PM
google also... when will apple join?
Charles SchlossFriday, February 27, 2009 4:29:53 PM
when will apple join?

I also thought about that, but they also have a few problems (Office for Mac)
Unregistered userTuesday, June 2, 2009 4:44:01 AM
hammer22 writes: A comment was made the other day by a member of the European Union that the European taxpayer will pay less taxes if they can collect from Microsoft- Intel. I havent seen them go after any of their corporations
Unregistered userTuesday, June 9, 2009 9:32:11 AM
22hammersonthewall writes: "I havent seen them go after any of their corporations" That's because you are an ignorant moron. The EC goes after European companies that break the law all the time. What's wrong with Americans and their silly claims based on pure ignorance?