Linked by Thom Holwerda on Thu 11th Jun 2009 22:03 UTC
In a move to basically outflank the EU antitrust investigation, Microsoft has announced that all version of Windows 7 shipped in Europe will not include Internet Explorer 8 by default. This is reminiscent of the Windows XP N editions, which did not include Windows Media Player, but the difference here is that Microsoft will not ship versions of Windows 7 with Internet Explorer 8 in Europe.
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Member since:2005-07-06
There we go again. It's not intrinsically illegal to bundle things. Hence, everybody does it. You probably won't be able to replace the software embedded in your cappuccino machine, for example.
But it is illegal to abuse your (defacto) monopoly in one area (OS'es) in order become a monopolist in another area (browsers). And for a reason, because then the abuser would have an unfair advantage over the competitors. The advantage is not based on intrinsic quality, lower price or better availability or anything, but purely on a monopoly that has on itself nothing to do with the product. Call it predatory bundling. Like with pricing, it's not illegal, but when it becomes predatory it certainly is. Predatory anything is bad for the economy, bad for innovation and hence bad for anyone but the abusing party. That's why it's been declared illegal and has held up in court. Go Neelie!
If Microsoft would have a market share of 50% or lower this wouldn't have been a problem. because then they would not have been able to abuse their position in the OS market to gain market share in the browser market.
But it is illegal to abuse your (defacto) monopoly in one area (OS'es) in order become a monopolist in another area (browsers). And for a reason, because then the abuser would have an unfair advantage over the competitors. The advantage is not based on intrinsic quality, lower price or better availability or anything, but purely on a monopoly that has on itself nothing to do with the product. Call it predatory bundling. Like with pricing, it's not illegal, but when it becomes predatory it certainly is. Predatory anything is bad for the economy, bad for innovation and hence bad for anyone but the abusing party. That's why it's been declared illegal and has held up in court. Go Neelie!
If Microsoft would have a market share of 50% or lower this wouldn't have been a problem. because then they would not have been able to abuse their position in the OS market to gain market share in the browser market.
Bundling as a monopoly isn't inherently illegal either - what the DOJ was against was the OEM agreements that disallowed OEM vendors from installing competing browsers, placing competing product links on the desktop etc. If it were just Internet Explorer being bundled then no one would care - the problem was that Microsoft obtained their monopoly in the browser market by using restrictive OEM agreements over what can and can't be bundled with the operating system by vendors.
I don't think there is anything one can do about clawing back market share so that there is balance in the marketplace. About the only thing I think the EU could constructively do is to demand Microsoft to remove all proprietary components out of their rendering engine and associated components. All web based technologies that Microsoft (or associates) creates (and associated technology; if Silverlight is opened then the CODEC's must be fully documented as well) must be fully documented and open for anyone to implement free of charge.
If they remove the barriers to entry, don't expect change over night but at least all will compete on a level playing field whilst still allowing Microsoft to develop on the proviso that they must open up their specifications.
Member since:2008-11-17
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Member since:
2005-07-06
There we go again. It's not intrinsically illegal to bundle things. Hence, everybody does it. You probably won't be able to replace the software embedded in your cappuccino machine, for example.
But it is illegal to abuse your (defacto) monopoly in one area (OS'es) in order become a monopolist in another area (browsers). And for a reason, because then the abuser would have an unfair advantage over the competitors. The advantage is not based on intrinsic quality, lower price or better availability or anything, but purely on a monopoly that has on itself nothing to do with the product. Call it predatory bundling. Like with pricing, it's not illegal, but when it becomes predatory it certainly is. Predatory anything is bad for the economy, bad for innovation and hence bad for anyone but the abusing party. That's why it's been declared illegal and has held up in court. Go Neelie!
If Microsoft would have a market share of 50% or lower this wouldn't have been a problem. because then they would not have been able to abuse their position in the OS market to gain market share in the browser market.