Ghost Opera

Last Friday, the European Commission (EC) announced that she was starting a trial against Microsoft Corporation. According to the EC, the American giant violates the antimonopoly rules of the European Union, tying a web browser and the operating system to each other.

“Microsoft's practice to attach Internet Explorer to the Windows operating system causes damage to competition between web browsers, undermines the processes of improving goods and ultimately reduces the choice for consumers,” the EC statement said.

The European Commission gave Microsoft for two months so that the company could respond to accusations and develop a line of protection.

The lawsuit was the result of an annual investigation initiated on the complaint of the Norwegian company Opera Softaware, which was supported by the European Committee for System Compatibility ( ECIS ).

“Having tied the Internet Explorer to his Windows operating system, which occupies a monopoly position in the market, and refusing to honestly adhere to the accepted open standards, Microsoft deprives consumers of the possibility of choosing an Internet browser,” the ECIS statement said.

In response, Microsoft has issued an official statement that states that Internet Explorer is an integral part of Windows for more than 10 years and that the corporation has not limited competition between developers of other browsers. “We believe that the inclusion of a browser in the operating system benefits consumers and that consumers and computers have the right to choose any browser that they want,” the statement said.

Recall that this is far from the first court lawsuit of the European Union against Microsoft. In 2004, the European Court decided that the sale of Windows Media Player media player, the sale of the free market, and found Microsoft, guilty of abuse of the dominant position in the world market.

An unprecedented fine exceeding 497 million euros was imposed on the company. However, the American company then simply ignored the decision of the European Commission, for which it was additionally fined 280.5 million euros. Thus, the total amount of the fine amounted to 777.5 million euros.

It is worth noting that 10 years ago, Microsoft won the USA in the USA in a lawsuit similar to the present. When the first version of Internet Explorer (IE) was released in August 1995, the Netscape browser was occupied by a significant market share. Microsoft began to pursue an aggressive policy to promote its product. In particular, IE began to be supplied free of charge with the Windows 95 operating system.

The head of Netscape James Barksdil accused Microsoft of dishonest methods of competition. In September 1996, the Department of Justice began an investigation of Microsoft licensed agreements for IE, since under the terms of the concentration court order of 1994, Microsoft did not have the right to force other software products from Windows. In October 1997, the case was sent to the US District Court.

Microsoft in response proved that IE is not a separate product, but an integral part of Windows 95. December 11, 1997, a preliminary trial was imposed on the supply of Windows from IE system. In the summer of 1998, the Court of Appeal unanimously abolished this ban and admitted that Windows 95 and IE are not separate products.

On June 25, 1998, Microsoft successfully released the new Windows 98 operating system, where IE was completely integrated into the system.

Today, IE remains the most common browser with the world and occupies, according to Net Applications, a market share of 73.75%. Its main competitors are Mozila Firefox (18.41%) and Apple Safari (6.37%). In addition, last year Google joined the fight, which released a new open source browser - Chrome.