Thursday, December 13th 2007
Opera Files Lawsuit Against Microsoft
Opera Software, best known for its free web browser, has filed an antitrust lawsuit against software giant Microsoft for abusing its dominant position by integrating its Internet Explorer web browser into Windows. Opera, which filed the lawsuit in the EU, is asking the European Commission to force Microsoft to unbundle Internet Explorer from Windows or include other browsers as standard. It is also claiming that Microsoft is not following accepted standards for Internet Explorer and is calling for it to adhere to them. Opera's Deputy General Counsel, Jason Hoida, said:
Source:
PC World
Our complaint is necessary to get Microsoft to amend its practices. The European Court of First Instance confirmed in September that Microsoft has illegally tied Windows Media Player to Windows. We are simply asking the Commission to apply these same, clear principles to the Internet Explorer tie, a tie that has even more profound effects on consumers and innovation. We are confident that the Commission understands the significance of the Internet Explorer tie and will take the necessary actions to restore competition and consumer choice in the browser market.Some people may remember that Microsoft was forced to sell a modified version of Windows XP which excluded Windows Media Player back in 2004 after complaints about that being integrated into Windows, which was a similar case to this.
37 Comments on Opera Files Lawsuit Against Microsoft
If Opera was infinitely better than IE then it would be more popular than it is now. The fact is that it isn't and although I've tried it, and liked it, I didn't choose it over FF. Why? > because I didn't like it's style and plugins compared to that of FF. Why did I choose FF over IE, because I hated the security vulnerabilities in IE6 and I loved FF tabs and plugins. Why not IE7 over FF, I got used to FF and I love its customization potential. In the end it's a choice, but that does not mean you should not be able to have the basic bare minimum on your OS already. If Opera want to gain a bigger market share, then they need to WOW people. They aren't exciting enough people, so they are not gaining a large proportion of the market share. Yes IE6/7 does, and it's largely because it's bundled, but why then do all the people on TPU!, most who have at least a little knowledge on browsers, still not use Opera as there own? Well, because they like their own one or they have changed already.
And why the hell do people not attack Apple for their bundled programs, because Apple is cool and far better for everyone, and thats ...why it holds a smaller market share..... Doesn't hold water really does it. If you attack M$, then attack all OS's.:mad:
Stop complaining and make a fantastic product, then I might use it.:shadedshu
Sorry for my little rant!
On top of that, the extra applications add a whole new level of bloat, bundled toolbars and all that other unneccesary crap. Im a firefox user, but I think that IE serves its purpose well, and with the correct precautions it functions properly without any issues. Firefox has its quirks at times, and the performance difference really isnt that great anyway.
You cant update Firefox through WSUS, and manually deploying browser patches to hundreds or thousands of machines causes a lot of logistic headaches. (Not to mention bandwidth issues when 500 Firefox sessions automatically download a patch at the start of the day when students are getting online.)
User's ignore update prompts, and over time you will have 50 different revisions of the same browser across your network creating a giant security issue along with other problems that can develop by running more than one version of the same software.
now all we need is a "common sense" law which would throw out lawsuits that should just be common sense (like a lady suing McDonald's because the coffee she ordered at the drive through spilt in her lap going down the road and she was burned - but she claimed she didn't realize the coffee was hot). Those two laws combined would get the US back on track.
A web-browser, a media player, an email client are bare minimum that an OS can provide the user with, when he boots the OS for the first time. You can't expect Windows to be like DOS. Gawd!
If people don't know Opera (and other IE alternatives) exist, then it's Opera and not Microsoft to blame. There's a little something known as advertising. Look at Mozilla and their Spread Firefox campaign. Mozilla didn't have to put too much money into it. It was/is a collaborative effort, it worked. And now people like me are using perhaps the most exotic browsers of them all, Mozilla Seamonkey.
That's what sets Mozilla apart from Opera. Mozilla is proactive, while Opera is like a cribby bitch after it dropped its icecream and blamed someone else for it.
As for MS, well they did what they had to. After IE6, they put in a decent effort in making IE7. Atleast they lived upto bundling something with their OS. Why doesn't Opera sue Apple, Red Hat, Sun, SuSE, etc for bundling browsers other than Opera? Go to see, Opera makes browsers for pretty-much every platform. They've been arrogant snitches.
A few years ago when the Firefox was teething and gaining popularity, when asked to comment on the rise of Firefox, they said "Mozilla? hah! we don't see how a two-bit unix browser maker can put us off".
Opera, this is from Mozilla, Microsoft and prettymuch every company that did its job and minded its own business:
:nutkick:
Customers DO HAVE a choice. It's not Microsofts fault if consumers are too dumb to realise they have a choice. Microsoft made the software and they should be able to integrate whatever the hell they like. They include I.E to also make it more convenient for people who aren't so computer savvy. Having some sort of option saying "what browser do you want to download - I.E/FF/opera/netscape etc etc" would just confuse people.So it's Microsofts fault that your school has an I.E-only policy?
My university uses mozilla only. Whatever policy any private company comes up with is tough luck. You still have a choice not to use their internet service.