EU Goes Old-School with Microsoft IE Allegations
Haven't we been through this before? Like, a long time ago? And didn't Microsoft lose...but not really lose? Well, that was all in the U.S., and the EU doesn't care about that. And now the EU competition folks, who have dogged Microsoft for years, are back on Redmond's case, claiming that Internet Explorer might just
infringe on antitrust laws.
It would seem to us that this argument had a lot more strength when Microsoft was busy dumping Netscape's lifeless body into Puget Sound almost a decade ago. But now? Well, all we're saying is that your editor is a user of both Firefox and XP, and Firefox seems to be nipping away at Microsoft's market share all the time. Does that mean that IE doesn't violate antitrust laws in Europe? Not necessarily. But the question we're asking is, who cares? And why this? Why now? Competitors -- Firefox, Chrome, Safari -- are eating away at IE's market share, anyway. This feels like some sort of EU witch hunt or vendetta or something...but surely our friends across the pond wouldn't take that attitude. Oh, surely not.
Posted by Lee Pender on January 20, 2009