Microsoft, EU Reach Antitrust Accord 219
alphadogg writes "Microsoft appears to have reached an agreement with the European Commission that concludes an antitrust battle that has lasted a decade, Europe's top competition regulator said today. A proposal the company offered in July to address charges of monopoly abuse were dismissed as insufficient by the Commission, as well as by rivals in the software industry. But the latest iteration appears to have mollified the EC's regulator. 'We believe this is an answer,' said competition commissioner Neelie Kroes in a press conference. 'I think this is a trustful deal we are making. There can't be a misunderstanding because it is the final result of a long discussion between Steve Ballmer and me.' The new settlement offer addresses charges that Microsoft distorted competition in its favor in the market for web browsers, by giving its Internet Explorer browser an unfair advantage over rivals."
The Register points out this interesting quote from the materials Microsoft released on the subject: "Microsoft shall ensure that third-party software products can interoperate with Microsoft's Relevant Software Products using the same Interoperability Information on an equal footing as other Microsoft Software Products."
You've got to be kidding! (Score:5, Interesting)
I don't know what's worse - the possibility that he could be so naive, or the probability that this is a backroom deal, and we are never going to know the whole story.
"There can't be a misunderstanding" (Score:5, Interesting)
"This morning I had another talk with the German Chancellor, Herr Hitler, and here is the paper which bears his name upon it as well as mine [...] We regard the agreement signed last night and the Anglo-German Naval Agreement, as symbolic of the desire of our two peoples never to go to war with one another again." --Neville Chamberlain, September 1938.
a little too late (Score:5, Interesting)
Microsoft's ActiveSync is already on 50 million and growing Apple devices, the Palm Pre and Google has licensed it for it's online sync service. IE is old news and MS doesn't seem to care about it anymore. Now MS owns the technology that transfers documents and email over the internet between devices.
Moonlight (Score:2, Interesting)
This sounds like it could provide strong legal protection for anyone that wants to use Moonlight should Microsoft start to invoke patents on non-Novell users.
Re:monopoly abuse (Score:3, Interesting)
Sorry, but it's not a monopoly as long as I can buy one of these [apple.com], one of these [sun.com], or even one of these [dell.com].
Believe it or not, the world does not revolve around you. The end user is not the one with no power in MS's antitrust issues here. The question is, "can Dell license OS X for inclusion on their computer systems aimed at the home and corporate markets? Can Dell install Solaris or Ubuntu replacing Windows on the systems they ship, without going out of business? No they can't, except for a few niche markets, so MS has them over a barrel. That isn't even illegal, but screwing over other markets by using the fact that they have Dell over a barrel and using that influence to control Dell to the detriment of other markets is.
Re:I'll believe it when I see it... (Score:5, Interesting)
Actually, I'm not too sure.
The EU antitrust body is a beast with teeth, and a lot more difficult to buy out than the US equivalent. Their power comes in large part by their demonstrated ability to battle and win against even the largest multinational corporations. They will not risk losing that reputation, and their fight with MS is being watched by players outside the software industry.
I don't think they'll allow MS to play them for fools. If Balmer tries (and yes, I'm as certain as you that he will), they will smack him up fast and hard, because they know everyone they'll have to fight in the next 10 years is watching.
Re:It's FAKE!! (Score:3, Interesting)
don't forget the bias.
Studies and studies and studies have been done which show that placement is important, and having IE in the middle here creates a bias. Basically people will just click center very commonly.
Re:Installing 3rd-party browsers on Windows (Score:4, Interesting)
Was there something in the OEM licenses that prevented PC vendors from installing 3rd-party browsers? The "settlement" spends a lot of time talking about the ballot screen for selecting browsers. But I'm not sure why another vendor could not have made their own ballot screen if they wanted. Or just install whatever browser they like.
In the past there were but that is no longer necessary. The EU did poll OEMs and ask if they were being pressured by MS before they implemented this solution. Do OEMs feel they will be discriminated against in bulk licensing if they make a different browser the default or offer their own ballot? The results of this poll were not made public, but we can infer the response based upon the EU's solution. However, even if MS does nothing at this point market forces resulting from their previous abuses will push OEMs to install IE as the default browser. This is because MS's intentional breaking of standards ala the famous "embrace, extent, extinguish" memos have resulted in a significant number of Web pages that only function properly in IE. Further, previous findings of fact in other jurisdictions have concluded this was intentional and not an accidental result of MS's actions. As a result, the state of the Web itself motivates OEMs to make IE the default and that state is the result of previous crimes.
The EU chose to make the ballot the default to minimize MS's ability to retaliate against OEMs. Until Web standards become the norm, however, any remedy from the EU will be only partially effective in restoring real competition and allowing that competition to drive innovation as it would in a capitalist, competitive free market.
Re:I'll believe it when I see it... (Score:3, Interesting)
Currently I never attribute to incompetence alone what is their brilliant mix of incompetent malice. I place more faith in MS's ability to be evil than the patience of even the EU commission.
The EU thinks it has at least a Draw. MS will Shatnerize the Kobyashi Maru and announce it is playing some other game entirely. "Why yes, we'll support all relevant software. However, since we officially are ending support for XP on (___ date), then XP is no longer relevant, so we won't bother to make that interoperable."
Re:still can't uninstall Iexplorer (Score:3, Interesting)
As I pointed out, the choice of browser is becoming moot, which is why MS is prepared to concede room to the others on their desktop. The next big-thing is with cloud applications, software as a service
"Forcing Microsoft to somehow completely remove any part of their OS that can interpret HTML because then it could be construed as a "web browser" - and thus have their own "browser" built-in - is silly. May as well decide notepad shouldn't be allowed to ship with Windows or something"
I'm not in favour of forcing Microsoft to do anything. What I am in favour of is having control of my own computer. That it takes the EU Commission to get this concession out of Microsoft quite frankly beggars belief.
Re:I wonder if the real harm was ever recognized (Score:2, Interesting)
try that URL with an SVG file that other standards compliant browsers can handle easily. And keep in mind that not all versions of MSIE can handle PNG either.
If you are using MSIE, test for yourself here:
http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/southpark/images/8/8e/SouthparkCards.svg [nocookie.net]
Now try it again with Firefox, Opera or Safari among others.
Typical Ignorant Poster (Score:3, Interesting)
Typical European Protectionism
Yeah, because when I'm being protectionist I implement policies that promote four US companies in addition to one european one that isn't a member state of the European Union I work for. I further take care to word the decision such that if that one european competitor slips just a bit in market share they are removed entirely from the solution. Also, just to cover my tracks, spend a decade convicting european companies of antitrust violations on a regular basis and handing out big fines and remedies to them.
Re:Tired of the bundling argument against MS (Score:3, Interesting)
For all purposes Windows is the only pre-installed OS.
To continue my observations of today's users, a computer is Windows.
There's only a very thin upper layer of users that understand the bits that make up a computer and the interactions they have.
Even the concept that a computer is still a computer when it comes without an OS is remote to most. (Is that possible?)