EU may try and force Microsoft to offer alternative browsers other than IE
This post is in response to reading this: http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2009/02/eu-may-order-microsoft-to-bundle-other-browsers.ars
So I've been watching this story unfold for a while now, and I assumed at some point common sense would kick in and it would be kicked out, but then I guess I forgot that the story involves the EU so I should have known better. When it comes to socialism, regulation and bureacracy are generally the answer to all problems or even not problems.
To give a recap.
Opera isn't doing so well, so they complained to the EU to do something about the fact that Microsoft obviously abused its monopoly to make IE the dominant browser, so they want something done about it. The EU has been looking into it and now its coming out that a possible solution will be to force Microsoft to give the user the choice of which browser to use when they first boot windows.
Uh...what? First, Microsoft has been steadily losing browser percentage for years. Second, Opera hasn't grown in years. So if Microsoft has been steadily lowing browser percentage, but Opera isn't getting the new growth, where is the growth going? Well firefox of course! So does this show the inability for other browsers to compete, or just Opera's inability to compete? And how is this Microsoft's problem?
The worst thing is that there isn't much we Americans can do to complain about how Europe treats American companies. We don't elect the EU commissioners, and they could probably care less about our complaints. But I think there should be a cost to their actions.
Like if they try to force Microsoft to offer alternative browsers, I want German car manufacturers to be forced to offer US standard or metric measurement parts. Its only fair right? And its all about giving users "choices". I know I sure would like to only have to have 1 set of tools instead of two.
So I've been watching this story unfold for a while now, and I assumed at some point common sense would kick in and it would be kicked out, but then I guess I forgot that the story involves the EU so I should have known better. When it comes to socialism, regulation and bureacracy are generally the answer to all problems or even not problems.
To give a recap.
Opera isn't doing so well, so they complained to the EU to do something about the fact that Microsoft obviously abused its monopoly to make IE the dominant browser, so they want something done about it. The EU has been looking into it and now its coming out that a possible solution will be to force Microsoft to give the user the choice of which browser to use when they first boot windows.
Uh...what? First, Microsoft has been steadily losing browser percentage for years. Second, Opera hasn't grown in years. So if Microsoft has been steadily lowing browser percentage, but Opera isn't getting the new growth, where is the growth going? Well firefox of course! So does this show the inability for other browsers to compete, or just Opera's inability to compete? And how is this Microsoft's problem?
The worst thing is that there isn't much we Americans can do to complain about how Europe treats American companies. We don't elect the EU commissioners, and they could probably care less about our complaints. But I think there should be a cost to their actions.
Like if they try to force Microsoft to offer alternative browsers, I want German car manufacturers to be forced to offer US standard or metric measurement parts. Its only fair right? And its all about giving users "choices". I know I sure would like to only have to have 1 set of tools instead of two.