We knew this already, between Microsoft and the European Commission, it is not a great love story. Convicted three times in four years by the European Commission fines ranging from 280 million euros to 899 million euros for abuse of dominance, the company has apparently decided to stop it costs. Since 2004 the company was on the grill of the European Commission not to offer its customers, who had a computer running Windows, browsers other than Internet Explorer. Specifically, Windows provides only the browser Microsoft Internet Explorer. The user could subsequently download other browsers, but were not offered as standard in Windows.
Since January 2008, the European Commission seriously interested in the present series of Microsoft’s flagship browser in the Windows operating system, suspecting abuse of dominance. Evidence for its competitors, as Microsoft’s position is strong in the market for operating systems (Windows team today over 90% of computers worldwide).
Towards the arrival of new browsers?
For this dominance has been long criticized by other browsers, some do not hesitate to accuse him of the disappearance of the first browser, Netscape. While some browsers competitors are taking it to hold their own game (Mozilla team now just over 28% of European computers), the European Commission, it considered that Microsoft was guilty of abuse of dominant position and could a fine equal to 10% of its turnover. Not really decided to risk a further fine, the company has proposed to the Commission to include a “screen bundle” when you first start Windows where the user can choose the browser that it wants to use, and this for a period of 5 years. The owners of versions Windows XP to Windows 7 are affected by this announcement, since they can choose their browser through the updates to Windows.
With this measure, the European Commission hopes to boost the creation of new browsers, as said Neelie Kroes, Commissioner for Competition “This decision will benefit millions of European consumers by allowing them to choose their web browser. This choice will not only improve the experience today that users of the Internet, but also encourage designers to innovate and offer better browsers for the future. ”
But dealers should also find themselves, as more and more users are interested in free and ask not to be equipped with Internet Explorer included with Windows …!