Monday, January 19th 2009
Microsoft's Official Statement Following EU Commission Objections on IE with Windows
It is not the first time that Microsoft has had run-ins with the European Commission. The problem that keeps coming up is what the commission believes to be anti-competitive practices, being that Microsoft is bundling its own software with Windows instead of offering them separately. As has been seen with Windows 7, Microsoft has tried to keep them happy this time, by only including Windows Media Player and Internet Explorer. The rest can be downloaded free of charge, by what Microsoft has named the Windows Live Suite. It seems that this is not enough however, despite Internet Explorer being included in Microsoft's operating systems for over ten years, they have decided that this is an anti-competitive move by Microsoft, and as such have issued a Statement of Objections. The commission has given Microsoft approximately two months to respond, the official statement from Microsoft follows:
Sources:
Hexus.net, Microsoft
Yesterday Microsoft received a Statement of Objections from the Directorate General for Competition of the European Commission. The Statement of Objections expresses the Commission's preliminary view that the inclusion of Internet Explorer in Windows since 1996 has violated European competition law. According to the Statement of Objections, other browsers are foreclosed from competing because Windows includes Internet Explorer. The Statement of Objections states that the remedies put in place by the U.S. courts in 2002 following antitrust proceedings in Washington, D.C. do not make the inclusion of Internet Explorer in Windows lawful under European Union law.
"We are committed to conducting our business in full compliance with European law. We are studying the Statement of Objections now. Under European competition law procedure, Microsoft will be afforded an opportunity to respond in writing to this Statement of Objections within about two months. The company is also afforded an opportunity to request a hearing, which would take place after the submission of this response. Under EU procedure, the European Commission will not make a final determination until after it receives and assesses Microsoft's response and conducts the hearing, should Microsoft request one.
87 Comments on Microsoft's Official Statement Following EU Commission Objections on IE with Windows
Internet Explorer, though not quite as useless as WMP to me, is needed by the masses in the case of getting an alternative web browser, after which they should be able to uninstall it instead of leaving it on their system taking up space. That would be perfect.
Can't believe how much aggressiveness and stupidity on this thread - no wonder everybody hates the fuckin USA.
Nobody asks to ship Windows w/o IE, just prompt to install and allow full removal.
It would always be available for (re)install on the Windows installation disk.
Today IE is hard-coded in the OS which sucks because forces people to keep two browsers if they want alternative. It is also hard-linked, meaning that a lot of functionality doesn't look for the default browser but for IE directly. This sucks a lot but here in EU we like to unsucker ourselves.
Some smart ass mentioned linux - take any linux distro, all packages can be fully removed and replaced.
Apple OSX is not a focus for the Competition Council because it does not have a dominant market position. Ever heard of "dominant position"?
:nutkick:
no need to compare with apple os which are sold with hardware in general and linux is free so they can integrate whatever they want if is free
*sigh* But, the anti-IE ppl also have a point... Windows without IE could be sold as a different version... Let's call it 'The most secure version of Windows Ever!!! No browser included to protect you from yourself!!!" :roll:
Btw Mac Never, Linux Maybe, ReactOS probably when it gets to a Solid Release.
also my Grandfather can attest to Win 7, smaller Install, seems to load quicker, UAC has been controlled better, as he was testing on a P4/P4S8X/R7200 graphics machine (my second Motherboard heh) he is going to send me a copy so i can install it to one of these old 80 Gig HDs here (Dual Boot using separate HDs FTMFW!!!)
Ms should have a eu version of windows,which comes with no integrated software at all.
Speaking of telnet, you can use it to download a web browser without having one installed! Although I guess that means the EU should classify telnet as a web browser and prevent it from being installed with Windows.
God, when will this madness end?
What Microsoft is having to do now is completely hide that underlying code base and only access it for update routines; however, for quality control purposes (spoofing browsers, spoofing websites, etc.), Microsoft cannot expect a third-party browser to allow updating because that puts the entire operating system at risk.
So what it comes down to is this:
a) A high security clearance browser with strict access controls.
b) A high security clearance update application with strict access controls and an unenforceable security clearance browser with application derived access.
"a" fulfills two roles securely; "b" fulfills the same two roles but at the same time producing a potentially massive security hole.
Internet Explorer made sense back then and it still does today: it's update role is required for safe operation of the computer and expanding upon it merely makes life on a freshly formatted computer a little easier. It's a win-win situation.
Simply put, if you can't stand Internet Explorer, you shouldn't be using Windows. They are one in the same--at least until the EU raped Microsoft and forced them to change their programming model in Internet Explorer 7 (IE6 could do FTP, local, and HTTP without changing executables, IE7 can only do HTTP). EU has done a whole lot of absolutely no good in this case.