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As many believe, web users and innovators emerged winners upon the completion of the European Commission’s investigation into Microsoft’s browser-bundling practices. Microsoft will now offer users of Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7 a screen presenting a choice of Web browsers.
The European Commission slapped Microsoft with a fine of EUR 561 million for breaching a 2009 settlement over the bundling of Internet Explorer with Windows. Under this agreement, the company promised to display a “browser choice” screen on Windows installs in Europe, inviting users to choose other browsers in addition to the company’s own program.
Earlier this month, news got out that the European Commission is charging Microsoft with unlawful competition regarding its bundling of the Internet Explorer web bowser with Windows. At the time, information was scarce, but thanks to Microsoft's quarterly filing at the Securities and Exchange Commission. we now have a little more insight into what the EU might force Microsoft to do.
I was quite surprised when I learned that some peoples at JCXP wanted to boycott the opera browser because of the EU actions against Microsoft regarding the bundling of IE 8. The problem is that their main argument would be valid in the US, but absolutely not in the EU.
It seems as if most people are for OpenSource but against any other form of distribution/development. For example, Microsoft maintains ownership of the software that they sell on store shelves. No one owns a copy of Windows except for Microsoft.
Lately, a lot of talk has been coming out of Europe. The talk I am referring to concerns an anti-trust case against Microsoft for bundling a web browser they make with an operating system they make. The claim is that Microsoft has made competition in the web browser market difficult because Internet Explorer is included with Microsoft's Windows (a computer operating system).
