Microsoft 'to comply' with EU in browser choice antitrust probe

[Brink]

Microsoft has said it will comply with European antitrust authorities, after the software giant was accused of not adhering to the promises it said it would keep as part of an earlier settlement.

As quoted by Reuters, EU Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia told reporters at an economics conference:

In my personal talks with Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer he has given me assurances that they will comply immediately regardless of the conclusion of the antitrust probe.

Almunia also described the antitrust investigation as a "very, very serious issue."

Microsoft settled with EU authorities in 2009 after it was accused of unfairly using its operating system monopoly to increase its browser share by bundling Internet Explorer with Windows.

The "browser ballot" was a mandatory Windows update that allowed users to select their choice of Web browser -- such as Firefox, Opera, or Chrome -- to be offered alongside Microsoft's own Internet Explorer as part of the settlement deal.

But in July, the European Commission said it had received complaints that Microsoft had misled EU authorities over its promise to issue the browser ballot screen, which was first rolled out to Windows users in February 2010.

EU authorities accused Microsoft of failing to offer the browser ballot screen to users since February 2011, when Microsoft dished out Windows 7 with Service Pack 1. More than 28 million European customers who bought the latest copy of Windows with the software patch preloaded may not have been given the option to switch browsers.

The Redmond, Wash.-based company promised to give users the choice of browsers until 2014, including in future operating systems, such as the forthcoming Windows 8.

Read more at source:
Microsoft 'to comply' with EU in browser choice antitrust probe | Internet & Media - CNET News

 

[Skylais]

lol funny i was just reading that. I think its great! because in my opinion internet explorer is terrible

 

[Iforgot]

Brink It's still going on........ more or less United States v. Microsoft - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Layback Bear]

To me it makes no sense at all. It's Microsoft's operating system. They should have the right to put in or take out of their operating system any thing they care to. People have been choosing their browser for years without Microsoft having to give them a selection. That's like telling Budweiser they have to put two bottles of other branded beer in their 6 pack to give the customers a choice. Hog bananas.

 

[Dwarf]

Very well stated. I for one (and I've no doubt that countless others agree with me) am totally fed up with the EU consistently meddling and poking its nose into things that shouldn't concern it. After all, does the EU pursue Apple in the same way for including the Safari browser in their OSes? Or is the EU just anti-Microsoft?

 

[x BlueRobot]

lol funny i was just reading that. I think its great! because in my opinion internet explorer is terrible

I dislike IE, but I do not understand why people need a browser selection option within the operating system, I don't use IE at all and haven't be stuck with IE by Microsoft, so what's the EU complaining about?

 

[Joan Archer]

Very well stated. I for one (and I've no doubt that countless others agree with me) am totally fed up with the EU consistently meddling and poking its nose into things that shouldn't concern it. After all, does the EU pursue Apple in the same way for including the Safari browser in their OSes? Or is the EU just anti-Microsoft?

 

[lehnerus2000]

From W8 Forums:
Microsoft 'to comply' with EU in browser choice antitrust probe

Personally I think it's ridiculous but if Microsoft should be required to do it then so should Apple. It seems Apple is allowed to continue with their monopolistic practices.

That's the problem with all of these EU and US business practice rulings.

Once a practice is ruled illegal for one company, it should be illegal for ALL companies (regardless of market share).
​

Subsequent offenders should suffer much higher penalties.

 

[kado897]

Very well stated. I for one (and I've no doubt that countless others agree with me) am totally fed up with the EU consistently meddling and poking its nose into things that shouldn't concern it. After all, does the EU pursue Apple in the same way for including the Safari browser in their OSes? Or is the EU just anti-Microsoft?

 

[JimJoe]

You are stuck with IE because many sofrtware manuals I install don't go to my default browser, which is FF, but to IE.

IE is embedded in Windows, making it impossible to remove if you wanted to.

I realize some like IE. I prefer to make my own choices.