Opera urges EC to unbundle Internet Explorer

 

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By Matthew Sparkes

Posted on 13 Dec 2007 at 10:44

Opera has filed a complaint with the European Commission, claiming that Microsoft is hindering free choice in the browser market.

"Opera is filing this complaint on behalf of all consumers who are tired of having a monopolist make choices for them," says Jon von Tetzchner, CEO of Opera. "It cannot rest until it's brought fair and equitable options to consumers worldwide."

The complaint details how Microsoft bundling Internet Explorer with Windows is an abuse of a monopoly, and hinders interoperability by "not following accepted web standards".

Opera is requesting that the EC forces Microsoft to stop bundling Internet Explorer with Windows, or to install alternative browsers, such as Opera, alongside it.

The complaint also requests that Microsoft adheres to open web standards, rather than "stifling them with its notorious 'Embrace, Extend and Extinguish' strategy".

Re-opening old wounds

Microsoft's bundling of Internet Explorer was one of the main reasons the company found itself being prosecuted by its own government, in the infamous US anti-trust trial of the late 1990s. That trial found Microsoft guilty of abusing its monopoly position, but the eventual settlement stopped short of forcing Microsoft to stop bundling applications with the operating system.

The Opera argument is also considerably weakened by Firefox's emergence as a serious rival to Internet Explorer. The open-source browser is claimed to have as much as 30% market share in parts of Europe, with Mozilla itself claiming 125 million users worldwide.

Opera, by comparison, has a market share of less than 1%, according to most industry figures.

Microsoft was unavailable for comment at the time of writing.