Opera, EU Not Satisfied with IE Unbundling
Linked by Thom Holwerda on Fri 12th Jun 2009 13:55 UTC
Internet Explorer Yesterday, Microsoft dropped a bomb by announcing that all versions of Windows 7 released in Europe would ship without Internet Explorer pre-installed. This was in answer to the EU antitrust investigation currently under way regarding possible illegal bundling of Internet Explorer with Windows. The first reactions to this news are coming in, with Opera and the EU both lamenting the move.
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ralph
Member since:
2005-07-10

Uhm, that's exactly the point the EU and opera are making.

They want a browser out of the box, they just don't want it to be IE by default. That's why they want give users a choice upon install, something MS obviously doesn't want to happen.

So you are basically agreeing with the EU and opera and slamming them at the same time for something MS chose to do.

Reply Parent Score: 3

panickedthumb Member since:
2007-01-04

Thanks, I didn't flesh that out enough.

I don't agree with the EU and Opera going after Microsoft to begin with. Their monopoly argument over IE is what annoys me. As far as the current arguments presented in this article, I agree with what the EU is saying now, but it's obvious that Opera's current argument is just because they feel like nobody wants to play with them.

I also disagree with MS taking IE out of Windows 7 as a solution, because it takes away from the user experience.

Thanks for pointing out my inconsistency there, typed it while otherwise occupied and missed part of it ;)

Reply Parent Score: -1

jptros Member since:
2005-08-26

They want a browser out of the box, they just don't want it to be IE by default. That's why they want give users a choice upon install, something MS obviously doesn't want to happen.


So that raises the question of what browsers and why get to ship with windows rather than browser XYZ. Further more, why doesn't software ZXY ship with windows too because it's a complete replacement for microsoft's own ABC? This road doesn't lead to any reasonable ending.

At best, just leaving IE in windows forcing microsoft to allow complete removal of the browser would be a just cause but adding in software from other manufacturers is no more reasonable than what we already have.

Reply Parent Score: 1

kaiwai Member since:
2005-07-06

Uhm, that's exactly the point the EU and opera are making.

They want a browser out of the box, they just don't want it to be IE by default. That's why they want give users a choice upon install, something MS obviously doesn't want to happen.

So you are basically agreeing with the EU and opera and slamming them at the same time for something MS chose to do.


So what one could do is allow the browser providers to have access to the Windows Windows update service so that they can offer their product through the Microsoft updating mechanism. Microsoft doesn't want that because it would end up with end users realising there is a massive selection out there; they could try out each browser till they find something they like.

The problem with Microsoft is they see Internet Explorer as the gateway where they can link Microsoft services that they provide, Microsoft's server products and their operating system. It is one of the many glue's that hold the Microsoft monopoly together. Get rid of Internet Explorer's proprietary technologies, demand the royalty free access to Microsoft's technologies (network protocol, file format etc) and numerous other bits and bobs and you'll find the Microsoft monopoly would die pretty quickly.

Reply Parent Score: 6