Browser Wars: Opera launches antitrust attack on Microsoft

Stuart Corner
Friday, 14 December 2007 01:49

Your IT - Home IT

Norwegian browser developer Opera has asked the European Commission to force Microsoft to unbundle Internet Explorer from Windows, to pre-install other browsers with Windows and to have Explorer conform fully to accepted standards. "Microsoft's unilateral control over standards in some markets creates a de facto standard that is more costly to support, harder to maintain, and technologically inferior and that can even expose users to security risks," Opera claims. It wants the EC to force Microsoft to adhere to its own public pronouncements to support fundamental and open Web standards accepted by the Web-authoring communities, instead of as it alleges "stifling them with its notorious 'Embrace, Extend and Extinguish' strategy." Opera believes that the remedies will help promote consumer rights worldwide and force Microsoft to begin competing with Opera and others on the merits of its browser.

'Embrace, Extend And Extinguish', also known as 'Embrace, Extend, And Exterminate' was a phrase that the US Department of Justice alleged was used internally by Microsoft to describe its strategy of entering product categories involving widely-used standards, extending those standards with proprietary capabilities, and then using those differences to disadvantage its competitors.

Opera says the remedies it seeks "will help promote consumer rights worldwide and force Microsoft to begin competing with Opera and others on the merits of its browser." And it believes recent action taken by the EC against Windows sets a precedent which should be extended to Explorer.

"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," said Jason Hoida, Deputy General Counsel, Opera. "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."

Opera, which claims to be the only company that can make the Web accessible from any device, says has long held the position of innovator in the Web browser market, having introduced and pioneered features like tabbed browsing, Speed Dial, integrated search bar, mouse gestures, Opera Link and many others. "Absent Microsoft's abuse, Microsoft would have been forced to compete on a level playing field with Opera and other browsers," it claims. "Instead of innovating, Microsoft has locked consumers to its own browser and only recently begun to offer some of the innovative features that other browsers have offered for years."