Linked by Thom Holwerda on Thu 11th Jun 2009 22:03 UTC
Windows 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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lemur2
Member since:
2007-02-17

They were talking about how basically opera is never satisfied with last place and will bitch about any outcome, not about how IE needs to be standards compliant, I fail to see the relevance here. Opera is a company, and NO profit based company is out for the consumers best interest UNLESS it serves their own, that's absolute fact. Next step is that EU makes microsoft put opera on the top of the list, with flashing Vegas style lights and a "HEY CLICK HERE FOR NATURAL ENHANCEMENT" message scrolling by. They need to quiet down, Opera will never gain marketshare as long as firefox, chrome and safari are swimming around.


If Windows comes with IE, and you cannot remove it, then there are going to be a lot of desktops with IE and no other browser. That is due to Microsoft's domination of the desktop.

If IE is non-standard, and does no render rich web content according to web standards but rather supports only proprietary methids such as Silverlight for rendering such content, then a lot of desktops are ONLY going to be able to render rich web content using Silverlight. That would give Microsoft a dominant position in the provision of rich web content services.

Opera has a valid complaint. Opera renders rich web content compliant with vendor-neutral web standards. There is no Silverlight plugin available for Opera.

Microsoft are trying to use their dominance in the desktop market to eliminate competition for parts of the web services market.

That is illegal. That is antitrust. One way of countering it is to require Microsoft to deliver either a browser that is standards compliant, or no browser at all.

Opera has a strong case no matter how much Microsoft apologists try to whinge and moan about it.

Read more about it here:

http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20090611180848163

Reply Parent Score: 3

hollovoid Member since:
2005-09-21


That is illegal. That is antitrust. One way of countering it is to require Microsoft to deliver either a browser that is standards compliant, or no browser at all.

Opera has a strong case no matter how much Microsoft apologists try to whinge and moan about it.


Then why do they have a problem with Microsoft delivering "no browser at all"? That was my whole point, They are offering just that, and Opera still has issues, acting like they really care for they're costumers, and not themselves. True, Microsoft should be standards compliant, and they have made progress, but I still don't see a valid reason why Opera could complain that they are NOT bundling IE. Would Real have complained more if Media player was removed all together?

Reply Parent Score: 2