EU After Microsoft — Again
January 15, 2008 | by Christopher Nickson
The EU has launched two new probes against the software giant, not long after fining it $745 million.
It seems as if Microsoft can’t win in Europe. Last October it agreed to give third-party developers access to help make systems interoperable with Windows after losing an appeal against a verdict that it broke EU competition laws and being fined $745 million.
Now the European Commission has launched two fresh investigations against the company.
The first brings up, once again, the issue of whether it unfairly ties the IE browser to the Windows OS, following a complaint by Opera, which is based in Norway. The second, raised by the European Committee for Interoperable Systems, will look at the interoperability of Microsoft’s software with products made by others.
"This initiation of proceedings does not imply that the Commission has proof of an infringement," the Commission insisted in a statement. "It only signifies that the Commission will further investigate the case as a matter of priority."
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John on Jan 21st, 2008 at 12:36 AM:
Opera should focus on improving their products instead of crying and complaining. They should look at Firefox as an example. If people like their products, people will use it. The iPod is another example. These companies and products compete against Microsoft too.
The EU are the biggest rippers and robbers in the world. All they want is money from Top US companies. Why don't they strip off the mozilla browser from linux? Why don't they ask BMW to let consumers be able to choose Toyota headlights and Mercedes seats? If they want Microsoft to remove IE from windows, how the hell is one going to download Opera or Firefox in the first place? Are you idiots at Opera going to tell elderly people around the world to use FTP to download the browser?
Consumers don't care about open standards and all that crap. All they want is a simple and usable system - which Microsoft provides. EU can't understand such a simple thing!