Europe Closer to Fining Microsoft Billions Over Failure To Offer IE Alternatives

http://techcrunch.com/2012/10/14/report-europe-inching-closer-to-fining-microsoft-billions-over-failure-to-offer-internet-explorer-alternatives/

by ezdebater • 14 years ago

31 30 14 years ago

techcrunch.com

jiggy2011• 14 years ago

This might have made some sense back in ~2002 when all other browsers were DOA. Seems almost cruel to watch the EU stomp a dying browser further into the pavement.

Surely it would be more fitting for the EU to look into UEFI or Windows 8 RT which IIRC will not allow other browsers at all.

outside12342• 14 years ago

or iOS and the app store, which is hundreds of times more anti-competition.

arturadib• 14 years ago

You do know IE is still by far #1 right?

Turing_Machine• 14 years ago

http://gs.statcounter.com/#browser-ww-monthly-201207-201209

That turns out not to be the case.

jfoutz• 14 years ago

Really? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usage_share_of_web_browsers

nmat• 14 years ago

The XKCD: http://xkcd.com/1118

Gustomaximus• 14 years ago

I agree this is a less important issue today than some years back. However is it worth noting;

1) MS 'might' get this fine. It is not a done deal so this headline of fining them for billions is a little sensationalist.

2) The fine is not now for anti-competitive behavior, but for breaching their settlement from 3 years ago, a time when MS did dominate, chrome was a distant blip on the radar and the browser landscape was quite different. See 2009: http://gs.statcounter.com/#browser-eu-monthly-200807-201210

outside12342• 14 years ago

headline should be: "europe is going bankrupt and needs to find people to tax and companies to shakedown so they don't need to reform."

kalleboo• 14 years ago

Legal battles between Microsoft and the EU have been going on since before the euro was even introduced.

Zenst• 14 years ago

I live in the EU and have legal install of windows for XP,Vista and Win7 and can saftly say I already installed another browser and found the whole chose one option provided as a required patch most annoying.

Sad thing is any user at the level of not being able to install a alternative browser are also the users more prone to have botnets and other malware installed upon there compter. That is the real issue that the EU has not addressed, Microsoft offered a alternative idiot install alternative and I for one found it most annoying.

The EU have better area's to attend to thesedays and I'd hate to suddenly find out one day that chromebooks suddenly have to offer Microsoft browsers as a alternative, or iPad's demanding user pick another browser or not.

It is when there is no alternative choice and for windows that has never been the case to date (not sure about tablet windows flavours). That can not be said for other operating systems and iOS at some point was a little rejecting of alternative browsers in its central dominating app store. Windows had netscape before microsoft had a browser, always been alternatives and easy to install and associate. The only issue is that they expect people who are unable to handle that trivial task on the internet blindly without even saying no Microsoft they must pick a antivirus program before they connect to the internet. That would of been useful inforcement, but nope.

At times I do wonder if I sent in a CV on punched cards to the main EU office that they would not only accept it and convert onto 8" floppy disc for me for free. I think that is an old joke, but there again so is the point in time the EU are on about and even then they missed the real issue.

zizee• 14 years ago

A key difference between Microsoft Windows and other operating systems is that it was declared a monopoly.

Being deemed a monopoly Microsoft Windows is held to different standards to all the other options that you mentioned.

That said, I think that we are approaching at time when Microsoft shouldn't be considered a monopoly.

did that happen just in the US, or did it also happen in the EU?

jpiasetz• 14 years ago

When are they going to fine Apple? I don't get a choice on iOS...

desbest2• 14 years ago

The definition of a monopoly according to the US government, is a 60% market share.

As Apple doesn't have a 60% market share on smartphones, they are allowed to do what they want.

glomph• 14 years ago

What does the US government have to do with EU law?

tomrod• 14 years ago

Tis is kind of sad. What are the legal reprecussions if MS tells the EU to take a hike? No desktop windows in EU?

chmod775• 14 years ago

My guess would be this plus possible legal actions against individuals (should they really tell them to "take a hike").

johansch• 14 years ago

Europeans would be so lucky :-).

justinschuh• 14 years ago

For those not actually reading the article, this goes back to the multi-billion dollar EU ruling from 2004. Microsoft appealed it for years and eventually reached a settlement in 2009, which reduced their fine to a fraction of the original ruling. However, one of the key requirements of that settlement was the browser ballot, which Microsoft has been violating (as they admitted, but stated the noncompliance was unintentional). Since Microsoft breached the terms of the settlement, they're now potentially on the hook for the original fine plus whatever else applies.

pooriaazimi2• 14 years ago

Question: I think if you disagree with (software) patents, you must also disagree with these anti-monopoly laws. Everyone must be equal and free to compete, even companies with trillions of dollars in bank.

It's 3 AM here so I can't make a good case why I feel that way (so I rather not to, in case I'm misunderstood and people waste their time arguing about what I don't mean), but I want to know what others think about it. Most people hate IE and to a degree, MS. But it shouldn't matter whether we like them or not. They must be allowed to do whatever they want even if it hurts the industry.

squidsoup• 14 years ago

"They must be allowed to do whatever they want even if it hurts the industry."

Isn't this the kind of thinking that led to the banking crisis?

SEMW• 14 years ago

> I think if you disagree with (software) patents, you must also disagree with these anti-monopoly laws.

...Do you have a reason for thinking that? The connection isn't obvious.

If your reason for disagreeing with software patents is an aversion to government intervention then, ok, sure, that reason would also extend to disliking competition law. But if your reason for disagreeing with software patents is, say, because you don't like that they grant the patent-holder a monopoly on the subject of the patent and you don't like monopolies, that's pretty compatible with having a high regard for competition law. And if your reason for disagree with software patents is something else entirely, that might not point to any particular position on competition law at all.

pooriaazimi2• 14 years ago

To be honest I can't understand your comment right now (I'm tooo sleepy - it's 5:35 AM!), so I can't comment on that. But the gist of what I was getting at was this: is government intervention in a free market "a good thing"? Even if it is to (temporarily?) protect us from the evil of Big Co.?

cageface• 14 years ago

Like most legal issues I don't think this one is so black & white.

I'm still not sure if government intervention was the right answer in Microsoft's case but the fact that some kind of government involvement (patents) is clearly bad for the software industry doesn't necessarily mean that any government involvement is bad.

kabdib• 14 years ago

Time for the EU to go back to the Microsoft piggybank. Ka-ching!

thirdtruck• 14 years ago

Microsoft continues to commit the corporate equivalent of a parole violation.

The EU cannot "go back" to the piggybank, given that Microsoft has still left its pre-existing obligations unfulfilled.

bztzt• 14 years ago

I don't know how this failure happened, but I'm certain it wasn't intentional. IE market research has been tracking the effect of the browser ballot closely and found it to be almost completely negligible - the people who don't pick IE from familiarity / brand recognition are the same people who would have downloaded another browser anyway. They wouldn't have risked another legal/PR/financial fiasco over that. I'd really hate to be whoever's responsible for whatever snafu was the immediate cause ...

desbest2• 14 years ago

Relevant. http://xkcd.com/1118/

mrj• 14 years ago

You all are being unfair. Whatever you think of the settlement, Microsoft agreed to these terms. Then it simply stopped abiding by the agreement.

Microsoft is clearly in the wrong here.

Europe Closer to Fining Microsoft Billions Over Failure To Offer IE Alternatives

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