EU may push Microsoft to bundle competing web browsers

The European Union has been decrying Microsoft anti-competitive practices for some time now, but the situation might be headed for more volatile waters. For over a decade, Microsoft has been bundling its web browser, Internet Explorer, with every copy it sells of Microsoft Windows. In 1998, the United States filed antitrust suits against Microsoft for giving itself an unfair advantage over competing browsers, such as Netscape Navigator.

In the U.S. case, the court settled, allowing Microsoft to continue integrating IE into its operating system while providing competitors with the API. What resulted was a decade of poorly developed websites catered to Internet Explorer’s failure to adhere to web standards. The EU seems poised to avoid a similar mistake and may insist that Microsoft bundle competing browsers, of which there are many more than there were in 1998.

In 2004, the EU tried to get Microsoft to unbundle Windows Media Player from Windows, issuing fines in the tens of millions of dollars, but the corporation did not budge. The latest incarnation of the OS, Windows 7, gives users the ability to disable Internet Explorer and other built-in applications. They may see this as an effort to silence EU complaints.

Source: ChannelWeb
Photo: Flickr