"Opera Software filed a complaint with the European Commission yesterday which is aimed at giving consumers a genuine choice of Web browsers. The complaint describes how Microsoft is abusing its dominant position by tying its browser, Internet Explorer, to the Windows operating system and by hindering interoperability by not following accepted Web standards. Opera has requested the Commission to take the necessary actions to compel Microsoft to give consumers a real choice and to support open Web standards in Internet Explorer."
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RE[2]: Filing suit against other companies
Member since:2005-07-06
Microsoft is a monopoly convicted of abusing their monopoly position. That is a fact.
http://www.usdoj.gov/atr/cases/ms_index.htm
I didn't say anything about going out of business and neither did Opera. Opera is saying Microsoft is a monopoly and they are abusing that monopoly position.
I said nothing about Open Source. Nothing. Open, in the way I used it means that the spec, be it HTML, CSS, CSS2, ECMA Script or whatever, is open. You don't have to pay to get the spec. You don't have to license the spec. Anyone can implement it. It is open.
If you're sick of companies litigating to solve their issues, that's cool. I agree that it would be nicer for true competition to solve these problems. BUT, when one of the competitors is a convicted monopolist (and their monopoly position is unchanged), there is no fair competition. In such cases, I can understand litigation as an option.
Edited 2007-12-13 19:46
Member since:2006-09-16
Almafeta: Microsoft has been found to be a monopoly by courts in the US and Europe. That's a fact.
Monopoly has specific legal meaning, as well as a specific meaning in economics. As we are discussing a lawsuit, the legal definition of monopoly is clearly the proper one to use. It is a fact, not opinion, that courts have found Microsoft to hold a monopoly in desktop operating systems.
You can stick your fingers in your ears and shout "LA LA LA" as much as you want, but your personal fantasy definition of monopoly simply doesn't apply to this story. Monopoly is a term of art used in the law and economics, and those are the definitions that apply.
Member since:2006-06-03
Member since:2007-05-02
Member since:2005-07-06
Member since:2006-01-12
Which standards they should support then? I mean it seems that every month or so we have new standards. Not even Opera meets all standards why should IE. Besides shouldn't the responsible of using standards be in Website creators? And who should decide which standards are required, I hope not W3C.
Since there is no standard called Internet or WWW, whole thing of saying that you should support open standards is pretty weak.
"This is a huge problem for companies like Opera whose business depends on these standards being standard."
Smells like crap to me. Biggest problem for Opera is that web browser is free nowdays and Thank God for that.
Member since:2005-06-29
"Which standards they should support then?
http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/
http://www.w3.org/Style/CSS/
http://www.ecma-international.org/publications/standards/Ecma-262.h...
I mean it seems that every month or so we have new standards".
Nope. Every 5-10 years there are updates to the standards. That's it.
"Not even Opera meets all standards why should IE".
Opera passes the ACID test. So should IE.
http://www.howtocreate.co.uk/acid/
http://www.webstandards.org/2006/07/20/acid2-and-opera-9-clarificat...
"Besides shouldn't the responsible of using standards be in Website creators?"
Absolutely. As long as the browser supports web standards. Otherwise the page will be broken.
"And who should decide which standards are required, I hope not W3C".
Yes, the W3C, of which Microsoft takes part.
"Since there is no standard called Internet or WWW, whole thing of saying that you should support open standards is pretty weak".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Wide_Web_Consortium
Member since:
2005-07-06
You're missing (or willfully ignoring) a really big point: Microsoft is a monopoly that has been tried and convicted of abusing that monopoly position (remember, it's not illegal to have dominant market share; it's what they do from that position that is). This is not the same as Opera not supporting Silverlight or WMV. Not even a little. Really.
The reason the internet works is because it is based on open protocols. Think about this. The dominant operating system vendor also supplies the world's dominant web browser (remember that monopoly abuse I mentioned?). Once the market for IE was secured, Microsoft disregarded the open protocols that makes the web work and let the browser stagnate for many, many years. IE7 is an improvement over 6, to be sure, but the open standards that the web depends on are still only being paid lip service. This is a huge problem for companies like Opera whose business depends on these standards being standard.
So yes, litigation is a viable option. In fact, it might be the only true motivation Microsoft for get its act together.