Microsoft strikes back at Opera antitrust claims

Microsoft denied on Friday antitrust claims from Opera Software that the software giant is abusing its dominant market position to lock users into the Internet Explorer Web browser.

Opera, based in Norway, announced Thursday that it had filed an antitrust complaint with the European Commission, alleging that Microsoft is abusing its dominant position by bundling IE with the Windows operating system. Bundling IE with Windows means people have no choice in receiving it and only afterward have the option of deleting it or using an alternative product as the default browser, Opera said.

Opera also claimed that Microsoft is hindering interoperability by not following accepted open Web standards.

Microsoft struck back Friday, indicating that it would not willingly unbundle IE from Windows.

"We believe the inclusion of the (IE) browser into the operating system benefits consumers, and that consumers and PC manufacturers are already free to choose to use any browsers they wish," a Microsoft representative said. "Internet Explorer has been an integral part of the Windows operating system for over a decade and supports a wide range of Web standards."

The Microsoft representative added that "computer users have complete freedom of choice to use and set as default any browser they wish, including Opera, and PC manufacturers can also preinstall any browser as the default on any Windows machine they sell."

Opera filed the complaint against Microsoft this week, asserting that Microsoft has locked consumers into using IE, which has "only recently begun to offer some of the innovative features that other browsers have offered for years," such as tabbed browsing.

"We are filing this complaint on behalf of all consumers who are tired of having a monopolist make choices for them," said Jon von Tetzchner, chief executive officer of Opera. "In addition to promoting the free choice of individual consumers, we are a champion of open Web standards and cross-platform innovation."

Opera asked the European Commission to force Microsoft to unbundle IE from Windows and to carry alternative browsers preinstalled on the desktop. Opera also asked the EC to require Microsoft to follow "fundamental and open Web standards accepted by Web-authoring communities."

The browser company asserts that Microsoft's "unilateral control over standards in some markets has created a de facto standard that is more costly to support, harder to maintain, and technologically inferior and that can even expose users to security risks."

Tom Espiner of ZDNet UK reported from London.

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Add a Comment (Log in or register) 239 comments (Page 1 of 6)
What I Do Mind Is...
by Renegade Knight December 14, 2007 7:26 AM PST
I don't mind that IE comes with windows. All modern OSs need to come with some kind of basic browser. That way you can download the browser of your choice. What I don't like is that IE is so integrated into windows and applications that I can't get rid of it when I do download another browser I'd rather use. Then it's just taking up space and bloating up my computer. Opera may not win the case but they still have a point.
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Microsft behaving badly
by winstein December 14, 2007 7:47 AM PST
The US justice system has failed. The landmark antitrust case against Microsoft did not do anything but waste the tax payer's money. Nothing changed after the consent decree. Microsoft is still bundling any software they choose and calling it integral part of the OS.
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Get another OS!
by pfrabott December 14, 2007 7:49 AM PST
See, this is stupid. The way I look at it is Microsoft developed the software. Microsoft owns the software. Microsoft licenses the software. Microsoft does not force anyone to install Windows or use it. If someone doesn't like the fact that IE is built into Windows then that user should get a different operating system. Linux would be a good alternative. There have been several cases like this over the past decade. If someone wins against Microsoft it will change everything. Not just for Microsoft but for all software manufacturers, including me. I have used Microsoft Access for single connection database access before in my programs. Who's to say that if Microsoft was to ever lose this case that I could be sued for forcing Microsoft Access "built-in" with my applications instead of another database file type. Don't get me wrong. I fully understand the complaint. I understand having to deal with someone in an OS that I do not want in there (heh, demo progs in newly purchased computers is another example) but if it is so big of a deal that one must complain so much to file a disbute over it I think that person (or group) needs to just get another OS. Microsoft is not forcing anyone to install or use their OS. You are free to install any OS on your system that you want.
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Boring
by toastiejoe December 14, 2007 7:59 AM PST
This is a poor attempt by Opera to get free distribution. Installing Opera or Firefox is straight forward, thanks to both those vendors and Microsoft. I.E. going forward looks like a much more secure product than it has been historically, and one hears plenty of stories on blogs and podcasts about problems with some alternative browsers, even amont their fans. This is not the topic to attack MS on - how about sensible packaging of the OS, less extreme pricing for the OS and office, etc? That would help us all.
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Stupid Cry Babies
by JonathonStriker December 14, 2007 8:06 AM PST
Who said you have to use Internet Explorer? Microsoft?! Maybe. But as they said, you can install another browser and set it as default. I'm using Firefox and it's 10 times greater. "But what about the Windows updates and other websites that require IE?" Go search for the IE TAB plug-in for Firefox and you're straight. This is why Opera sucks and is crying right now.
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Opera is wrong...
by john55440 December 14, 2007 8:13 AM PST
With Windows, users are free to use any browser that they want. I for example, have Firefox installed on my PC. Opera's actions are an act of desperation by a company with a near-zero market share. I suppose next, Opera will sue Mozilla-Firefox for the crime of having a more popular browser.
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Doesn't Apple bundle Safari with it's OS?
by sntholiday December 14, 2007 8:18 AM PST
Why doesn't Opera file a complaint against Apple as well? Because everyone likes to go after MS, and it's getting old. Can you uninstall Safari from the new Leopard OS?
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Finally, MS defends themselves
by mailbox001 December 14, 2007 8:29 AM PST
Just like when Google was whining that Vista Search feature didn't give people the option to choose. First of all, when the EU forced MS to sell a version of XP without the Media Player, that bombed. The consumer will always buy an OS that is fully-loaded (even though some features are dumb-down). Opera, Google, and the other companies out there complaining out there, if your product is better than MS, then Market your product. Get your target market aware instead of just suing and using the "Monopoly" reason. Which is irrelevant. If the consumer likes your product then they will use it instead of MS. People don't want a barebone OS and have to download numerous programs to surf the net, email, music, pictures, video, etc....they expect the OS to have it all.
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The problem is
by tashman December 14, 2007 8:32 AM PST
there is a fine line between a great platform, a great platform for building on, and the building blocks that make a platform better. Microsoft doesn't ever want to stop, they want to have all three pieces and on some level that is fine, it's a free country (sort of) but what isn't ok is that when microsoft goes after a particular market they stop being the "great platform" and now try and stop others from using their platform for whatever they think is best. The two fight each other, do I create a great platform for others to extend or do I use my great platform for only my advantage. The problem is most users just use what is put in front of them, I see many people think the answer is "well your free to go get a different browser" unfortunately 98% of users have no idea how to do this and just because 100% of the readers of cnet news do doesn't make what microsoft does right. Personally I've been using linux for 3 years and will never go back, the freedom and integration is very balanced because if it becomes unbalanced I just pick another distro, load up the programs I like and continue... It is the way it should be. tim
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Bundling is not the issue
by Orpeus December 14, 2007 8:37 AM PST
Although the point is glossed over in this particular story, the real issue here is adherence to accepted web standards. Microsoft has, from day one, flooded the web with it's own, Windows-specific mechanisms, in an Internet that is founded on the idea of open communication protocols. From perverting standard Java, to non-standard scripts and HTML, to such abominations as Active-X. Next up we have the proprietary "Moonlight" crap. Open standards will win out in the end, just as the Internet won out over <shudder> MSN, or whatever that MS system was. In the meantime, MS is dragging it's feet and gumming up the works for everyone else. They can include whatever browser they want, as far as I care. I just wish that their default browser would follow the web standards so that we don't have millions of web services that can only talk to Microsoft computers.
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