Bonum Certa Men Certa

The European Commission's Battle Against Monopoly Abuse Takes Next Step, But What About Web Standards?

Statues



Summary: The European Commission makes progress, but it neglects to stop Microsoft's abandonment of Web standards

ABOUT a fortnight ago we wrote about how Microsoft had attempted to escape punishment in the EU by choosing its own 'punishment', only to upset Opera, Mozilla, and the European Commission.



There is a new development in this case. As Reuters puts it:

Microsoft (MSFT.O) has offered to let users choose their own browser and provide more interoperability information to third parties in a bid to resolve two antitrust cases, EU regulators said on Friday.

The European Commission charged the U.S. software company on January 15 with seeking to thwart rivals by bundling the company's Web browser with its Windows PC operating system, thus harming innovation and reducing consumer choice.


From BizJournals:

European Union regulators said on Friday that Microsoft Corp. will offer users of its new Windows 7 operating system a choice of browsers.


People must remember that this is done because Microsoft broke the law in order to gain market share. According to a Microsoft-funded blog, Microsoft has seemingly made the change due to pressure and IDG says that it's about appeasing the Commission.

Microsoft says it's willing to put a "ballot screen" into Windows 7 to let European consumers choose from among several competing web browsers as the default in the operating system. The concession is aimed at resolving an antitrust complaint filed against the company in Europe by Opera Software over the bundling of Internet Explorer in Windows.


One reader of ours opines that "Microsoft is Silverlighting the EU."

"This recent offer by Microsoft to allow end users to choose browser at first boot, is largely becoming academic," he states. "As since they are moving most content to Silverlight, and you need Windows to use Silverlight, well... I bet Bill and Steve are laughing up their sleeve..."

The European Commission has actually dealt with Silverlight as an antitrust issue. However, there is no report of progress on the subject.

"Silverlight is much, much more than delivering video," the reader insists. "So they are using Silverlight to do an end run around the browser wars. I bet there's a memo in Redmond about Silverlighting Mozilla and Google." The Netscape case has lessons to teach us.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Why We Still Love Gemini Protocol
Gemini Protocol may seem like something "old" (it's actually very new) and something "nobody would use", but many people use it
This is the Man Who's Attacking Linus Torvalds et al in "a Disease" (Social Control Media)
One thing that Richard M. Stallman and Torvalds can agree on is that Social Control Media should be avoided
Unlike GAFAM, Free Software Serves You, It Does Not Serve Governments and MElons (Overlapping Forces)
Tired of oligarchy controlling your life through gadgets and "apps"?
When It Comes to Social Control Media, Linus Torvalds is Channeling Techrights
GAFAM workers know exactly who to aim at
New EPO Paper: Promoting (Rewarding) People Who Grant Many Illegal European Patents to Make More Money (at Europeans' Expense) While Patent Courts in the EU Are Themselves Illegal
now the coup is sort of complete and even the "courts" are part of the corruption
Slopwatch: Carnival of LLM Slop and FUD Spewed by Bots, Pasted in by MaKenna Hensley and Day
Welcome to the Web in 2025. Articles about "Linux", "Security", and the Web (e.g. "Firefox") are fake.
 
Links 09/02/2025: Hottest January on Record, Panama Blackmailed
Links for the day
Gemini Links 09/02/2025: "Died as a Mineral" and Game Interface for a Non-Game
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, February 08, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, February 08, 2025
Links 08/02/2025: UK Back Doors and Religious Fundamentalists in Positions of Higher Power
Links for the day
Today's IBM (Red Hat) Isn't the Company That Fought a Microsoft-Sponsored SCO in Court
IBM is nowadays in a state of rapid disintegration
When You Simply Rebrand Almost Everything as "Hey Hi" ("AI"), "Hey Hi Workloads", "Hey Hi Datacentres" and Whatnot
The "growth" has been a growing lie for years if not decades
Microsoft Windows Falls to 12% in Myanmar
Remember that Microsoft is virtually 0% in mobile
Gemini Links 08/02/2025: "Thought Leaders" and Returns to Gemini Protocol
Links for the day
Links 08/02/2025: MElon Coup, Mass Layoffs at Facebook, and PlayStation Network Down
Links for the day
On Wars Against Founders
We need to insist that founders remain
Links 08/02/2025: News Corp Admits Traffic Declines, Wildlife Trafficking Tackled
Links for the day
Gemini Links 08/02/2025: Lamp and Notions
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, February 07, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, February 07, 2025
Links 07/02/2025: Amazon’s Stock Collapses and US Government Being Dismantled (Still)
Links for the day
Gemini Links 07/02/2025: Mid-level Details and Simple Code
Links for the day
Links 07/02/2025: US 'Demolition Crew', e-ID Loopholes, and Sanctions
Links for the day
Professor Eben Moglen on How Social Control Media Metabolises Humans and Constrains Freedom of Thought
Nothing of value would be lost if all these data-harvesting giants (profiling people) vanished overnight
Social Control Media is Narcissism
Nowadays there's a lot more literature and even press coverage explaining the harms of Social Control Media
Debian Left Twitter (MElon "X"), We Think the Free Software Foundation (FSF) Should Do the Same
What would the FSF really lose if it stopped posting there?
statCounter Sees GNU/Linux Share Doubling in China Over the Past Year
It'll be interesting to see what data in the coming months shows
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, February 06, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, February 06, 2025
Richard Stallman (RMS) Confirms Next Week's Talk in Europe
He gave at least 2 talks in Europe last month
Nationalism As A Service (NaaS) by Microsoft Azure, Gutting the US Government for Profit
Will Microsoft be receiving bailouts as a reward for all this?
Rumours of IBM Layoffs Apparently Confirmed Yesterday, IBM Canada Consulting Impacted (as Rumoured)
when IBM has layoffs we must also read it as Red Hat layoffs