Opera Files Antitrust Lawsuit Against Microsoft

http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,140528-c,microsoftantitrustcase/article.html

Love the statement they're trying to make...

 

Get a grip. Pretty much every internet-capable device has a browsers with it- Macs, phones, games consoles...This is just a silly attempt at gaining market share and putting Microsoft out of some cash. Maybe EA should sue them for including Minesweeper?

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A better take would be to require Adobe to make flash plugins for Opera that actually work. </RANT>

 

I'd suggest reading Operas press release and the few words from Håkon Lie.

 

Ironic thing is, Microsoft's been wanting to make IE 'standards compliant' for a while now, it's just stuck as to what strategy they should do it by- by changing all of IE's rendering and the way it handles code they'd be breaking thousands of sites which are designed primarily for IE (and thus compensating for its issues). The IE team has even gone to the extent of asking site designers for suggestions as to how to resolve the issue- should they simply go compliant and let the designers deal with broken sites, initiate a scheme to help designers make their sites IE(8) compatible or use some other strategy? Don't get me wrong, I don't think IE's as flexible or feature-packed as browsers like Firefox and Opera, but they're certainly trying to wipe the slate clean and make it respectable again.

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most other OSes will let you replace the browser completly without being completly retarded about it.
I removed safari from my mac in under 20 seconds and it is gone

How do you remove the infection vector that is IE?

 

That is a good point IE is very integrated into Windows. Although a programmer would say thats a great re-use of code.

 

When a PC manufacturer builds a PC for someone, they include software: burning software, DVD playback software, etc. Microsoft is just another software packager. If someone wants to use an OS other than Windows, let them: they can use their choice of browser.

It's gotten to the point where I laugh when companies do this: the average consumer does not care. We care, sure, but we're power users. We are the target audience for Windows, but so is Joe Blow, who just wants to get on MySpace and infect his PC. Let him have IE and do that, and people who want a choice can still use Firefox, whatever.

And using another browser without uninstalling IE is different how? Sure, it's built into Windows, but you're not using it to look at webpages. Technically, you're just using Windows when you're browsing your PC. Internet pages displayed via an alternate browser are not using IE at all.

 

The problem I have with this is that it is so hard to get the computer to not use IE without asking you. Even if you set Opera as default browser, change the file associations etc etc, about half the time if you click a link it's going to open in IE.

(TBH, I have the same problem with FF in linux)

 

This is ridiculous, MS are offering an added extra to there product for the benefit of the consumer.
However, if like me you don't like IE all you do is download Firefox and away you go, it's not even as if MS make it difficult or prevent you from installing an alternative browser.
What next, Yahoo suing them for adding MSN messenger?

 

Wouldn't surprise me, MS are in a monopoly situation and as such have to be careful what they do to avoid being seen to exploit that position.

 

It’s not just inclusion, it’s making the system dependent on it. Internet Explorer is used for Windows Update, so removing it prevents you from receiving such updates.

 

You can run Windows Update from within the Help and Support Centre, you don't have to use IE.

 

What about the MSN Messenger? I am using Firefox for everything else, including updates, but the one thing I cannot do is checking my emails with firefox. At least not by clicking on the shortcut button in MSN Messenger.

 

No, it uses IE to download the files.

Also, Windows Help uses IE libs.

 

Yes, I know, but you are not forced to use IE for browsing.
When carrying out an update from Windows Help you are not able to browse the web are you? You are using part of IE only for carrying out an update to the OS.
Stop being pedantic, MS does not force you into using IE, you are free to install any browser of your choice.


PS, One question if they don't include IE, how to you get on the web to install a browser in the first place?

 

That’s not what Opera are arguing. You are not free to access the web how you like. Although, I don’t know what people expect from using a proprietary operating system. Of course they are going to make decisions for you.

Package management?

 

When I install Windows I am only forced to use IE once, that's it just once, to go and download Firefox (In fact that's not entirly true as I have the FF.exe file save elsewhere so I don't ever have to use IE) , then I am free to access the web my way for the rest of the life of the PC.

First of all, Windows is not Linux, and for the average home user (95% of MS's customers) a web browser is the easiest way to access downloads.

 

Not entirely true. They have improved things somewhat and will not doubt further improve things, but the developers blogs have explicitly stated that standards compliance is not a specific target and that they dont think it will ever will be because it will inhibit they all the 'extras' that they want to give to you.

Hmm... I'm sure it's possible to re-use code without the lock-in.

See cthippo's post above - many things are programmed to use IE and *not* the default browser.

 

So here's my question. Why does MS continue to push IE? I mean, it's not available as a seperate product, I don't see how it generates any revenue for MS, so what is their attachment to it? For that matter, the same question applies to Windows Media Player, does the paltry amount of money they make from advertisint and song sales justify the legal battles? I tend to worry when I can't see a clear profit motive in business.