Windows 7 receives antitrust complaints again
The recent release of Windows 7 RC have already stirred up antitrust complaints from Opera, and even Mozilla. According to Financial Times, the opposing browser companies once again believe that Microsoft is committing anti-competitive behaviour with Windows 7.
The main issue at hand is that Microsoft’s rivals are claiming PC users who upgraded their machines to Windows 7 have Internet Explorer 8 set as their default browser, even if they were previously using a different browser.
Microsoft’s defense was that this only applied to the installation experience with the test version of Windows 7, and was unrelated to the experience most users would have when Windows 7 is released.
Chairperson of Mozilla Mitchell Baker told the following to Eweek:
Our initial review suggests this is a blatant use of the Windows operating system to change the market dynamics of browser usage. What we’ve seen so far is a clear example of why and how Microsoft’s Windows monopoly damages competition in related products
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Tags: windows 7, windows 7 antitrust
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36 Responses to “Windows 7 receives antitrust complaints again”
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What a bunch of cry babies. If they dont like it make your browsers for a different platform. cry me a river! Microsft is just smart, they only hatin on them cuz there better then them. Microsft even gives the optition to delete IE hows that an anti-trust. why would microsoft give u firefox? not there company they just using IE because they make it. so if firefox comes with there email program thats a monoply? if microsoft looses this case whats happening to our government, and or society?
If IE is really the best browser, then why is about 70% of the most well received IE8 features essentially copies of firefox’s? And the only reason Microsoft begun allowing the complete removal of IE in W7 was because the previous antitrust lawsuits. Otherwise they’d still be forcing user to keep their programs like outlook, IE, Media Player, etc, wether you want them or not.
Why don’t opera and firefox move on already… it’s microsoft’s operating system, of course they would include a ‘microsoft’ browser. sounds like the ONLY ones trying to create a monopoly is firefox and opera! sheesh!!
whaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!
Funny that these guys don’t whinge at Apple OSX… isn’t it doing the same thing
OS-X doesn’t do the whole default browser thing as far as I know.
Read the freaking dialog box people!
“Express” will assign IE8 as the default. Select the other option and then whinge that you should have picked Express and said “yes I want Firefox to be my default browser now”.
Sheesh!
I don’t know what all this anti-trust c**p is about, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to change your browser back or install a new browser. Your also going to need a browser originally to down load a new browser so what do these companies want their browser originally installed in Windows 7. Sounds like Microsoft bashing to me.
Perhaps someone should start a anti-trust suite against some of these other browsers owners. I’ve installed a couple and like to switch between them but some of these browsers won’t let you and re-establish themselves as default browser when you select a new default. At least Microsoft doesn’t do that (on purpose) !
Hear hear!!!
A voice of sanity and common-sense amongst the knockers and those that have no freaking idea that they are installing an entirely NEW operating system and may YET not have had the chance, or desire, to install a competing browser which may/may not work anyway.
So far Win7 is a winner for IE8 (arck) and Firefox 3.0.10.
Read the freaking dialog box when accessing IE8. If by this time you have no other browser installed yet – how can you bitch about it?
Maybe they’re scared of IE8. I’m guessing most people are still using IE7 and going to Win7, their IE8 is by default and might just end up sticking with it
i totaly agree with Phill42083 dont say anything further is useless.
Ok, lets say Microsoft removes IE to shut up Opera and Mozilla, so now how does one download their crappy browsers with NO webbrowser installed?
You don’t need a browser to use the internet or to download. There’s something called FTP, you know. It’s funny that those who defend Microsoft tend to also be completely ignorant about computers. Coincidence?
I’d say that those who use Mozilla or Opera are ignorant about computers, (or at least have had their head stuck in the sand for years) honestly these two browsers are as old as the hills and in decline, if anything it should be Apple and Google to complain if they feel the need.
Although I doubt Apple would since their browser is probably the most evil browser I’ve ever come across. Talk about Anti-trust or what! It made it very difficult to switch between IE and Safari.
Also if someone didn’t know much about computers how do you think they’ll handle ftp!
Firefox is in decline? Funny, I’d like to know where you got that information. No matter where I look at, Firefox is shown as being in steady growth. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Webapps.svg for example)
Chrome is only useful if you use google apps all day long, and I won’t even talk about Apple’s. Asf for IE, it’s only for people either too lazy or too clueless to actually install another browser, or who need to use because of compactibility issues with some site whose coders taylored it for IE. Really, just tell me one single advantage of IE over firefox. There’s just none.
Well at the moment the most you hear about Mozilla is this silly anti-trust bickering. As for the wikipedia I suspect that page is highly dubious, mainly due to the fact that at least Opera had the sense to get their browsers included in non pc items like the DS, Wii and mobile phones to name a few and I would have thought it would increased Opera’s share. I’d also question if the data was accurate as I’ve seen some of the smaller browsers often identify themselves in weblogs as Firefox for compatibility reasons.
Even if those statistics were bloated (they’re not, but even if they were), the point still remains that IE is steadly loosing its market share. The main reason IE has such a market share is because: 1- most people don’t bother trying out other browsers and 2- they use because it’s more compatible with many sites. Now, the reason coders make sites more compatible with IE it’s because it’s the most used, so it’s a circular monopoly. Prevent the bundling of IE and you break the monopoly cycle and increase competition in the browser market. And more competition is only a good thing for the end user. Even if you decide to still use IE, the fair competition will only for Microsoft to improve IE, which again, is a good thing for you.
And the antitrust trials are anything but silly. They’re the reason Microsoft finally freed us from their buggy, insecure and semi-functional apps like outlook and whatnot by allowing us to remove them, if so we want. Even if you, for whatever reason liked them, now you at least have the choice because of the antitrust actions.
They are silly mainly because Euro bureaucrats seem to be obsessed with Microsoft and not go after other major targets. Compared with Microsoft Google has only had a handful of anti-trust suits and Apple you hardly hear about. The difference between them is that Microsoft is seen as evil and the likes of Apple good. Often in other companies consumer opinion often result in the changes you describe and without the anti-trust suits I’m sure someone would have found how to remove IE without Microsoft’s support.
Too much bashing of Microsoft makes people feel sorry for Microsoft and only makes Mozilla and Opera look bad.
You’re misunderstanding the economics. The problem is not that MS has a too large market share, it’s because it exploits it’s market power with monopolistic strategies, such as the bundling of their apps with Windows. Google does have an enormous market share, but it hasn’t so far exercised it monopolistically. It doesn’t force you to use chrome in order to access google maps or gmail, for instance. Unlike MS who makes IE the only browser capable of downloading Windows updates and so on.
And no, MS was nice enough to make the whole windows dependent of the other apps so that any attempt of forced removal would break the whole system.
I doubt anyone who is truly aware of MS practices (such as this one: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embrace,_extend_and_extinguish) could ever feel sorry for them.
It’s got nothing to do with market share, its number of anti-trust suits per a company and Microsoft perhaps unfairly has the largest share. The thing is other companies particularly Apple with itunes has acted in a similar manner and basically got off scot free. If it wasn’t for individual countries http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4828296.stm and consumer pressure itunes probably would have not opened up, surely this was a anti-trust case? Then again there was Sony’s secret install of copy protection software, they got their knuckles rapped on that one, but Apple do the same and no one blinks a eye.
As pointed earlier it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to install a new browser but the likes of making itunes compatible with other players can be done but in the early days it was probably a bit harder.
If you install a Microsoft operating system you should expect to get Microsoft and if your not happy there’s always Linux!
Hm then your argument doesn’t make much sense. It’s like saying we should stop arresting normal folks because some celebrities often get a free pass out of jail. If Apple is receiving an undue easy time, then we should start gunning for them as well, not stop going after MS.
And no, I can’t switch to Linux because MS managed to get an effective monopoly on games. If I could get all the games I like to play for Linux, you bet I’d never look at windows again. But that’s besides the point. Monopoly and anti competitive behavior is bad for the economy,and most of all, it’s bad for consumers. And MS is guilty of both, and making them stop it is going to benefit everyone, including you.
We should either go after them all or treat them all equally. At the moment it does seem to be Microsoft bashing lead by two companies that can’t adapt and compete with the rest of the market (ie bunch of cry babies comments) It does seem that the consumer is far more interested in other issues like the iPod dominated market and the EU’s obsession with Microsoft just grows the idea that the EU is a waste of time and money that countries should pull out of.
I think Google does exploit with its monopoly in ways. For example, if you type in something like mail or calendar in Google, the first results (although clearly listed as ads) are Google’s products. In some cases, they are #1 whereas on Yahoo, gmail is listed 4th, I don’t believe this is due to specific algorithms.
Also, I think the reason why IE still has such a high market share is because I know for a fact that Firefox does not have good penetration rate outside of Europe and North America, so anyone that accesses sites in the Middle East, South America, or Asia has to occasionally switch back to IE if they want to view websites without glitches and such. You also have to remember many corporations have designed apps that are only IE compatible.
I don’t know how Microsoft is using monopolistic practices though. They are just bundling a browser with their operating system so when someone buys Windows, they can go online. If you want them to bundle Firefox and Chrome and Opera and Safari on their OS, that’s like telling Apple to bundle Windows Media Player instead of iTunes (not sure if it’s even bundled but just an example) on Mac
That’s one point that I was making the iPod was bundled with itunes and itunes then became the major download site. The EU didn’t step in and say they had to be more compatibly with Windows Media player or it’s files or say that itunes had to sell downloads that would be compatible with other players than the iPod, that was down to individual countries and consumer pressure.
Now I can’t see any difference between the situation with itunes and the situation with the windows browser!
Me neither! Although MS didn’t necessarily earn its market share without monopolistic practices. They’ve threatened vendors and OEMs before so competitors don’t bother playing it nice with them
I think Microsoft should stop their crappy Browser Devolopment and intergrate firefox or opera to Windows 7..IE s***s big time.
That’s kind of bullshit.
I did remove IE8 previously and set Opera as default and i did upgrade my win7 installation without having ie8 put back nor having it set as default browser.
В русской версии Windows 7 другие названия версий: Максимальная, Профеесиональная, Домашняя базовая, начальная. Ужас!
И обои почему-то зимние. А так хочется лета!
Cry baby’s i use both,Firefox is better on some sites and IE is better on others
Стоп! А чяво он время пишет – 11:21? Сейчас 20:35!
Internet Explorer was never good..and also windows was also not good until windows 7…I hate Internet Explorer and it will be my worst digital enemy…Other than hackers and spammers.
Not true. You can now use pretty much any browser for Windows Updates (at least Vista and Windows 7 RC) although other parts of Microsoft.com that require Silverlight (poor man’s Flash) is annoying.
Silverlight is working with Firefox 100% as it has its plug-in. Ive removed IE8 and installed Silverlight, works a threat.
[...] Vía | Windows 7 Center [...]
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