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EU Could Force Bundling Firefox With Windows

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the could-they-force-me-a-sandwich dept.

Barence writes "The European Commission could force Microsoft to bundle Firefox with future versions of Windows. The revelation came as part of Microsoft's quarterly filing with the Security and Exchange Commission. Among the statements is a clause outlining the penalties being considered by the European watchdog, which recently ruled that Microsoft is harming competition by bundling Internet Explorer with Windows. The most interesting situation outlined in the filing would see either Microsoft or computer manufacturers forced to install Firefox, Chrome, Opera and Safari by default alongside Internet Explorer on new Windows-based PCs."

2 of 650 comments (clear)

  1. Bundling everything... by HockeyPuck · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I can see it now... the Linux masses (or /. crowd) asking for alternatives to everything...

    Notepad? Bundle Vi/Emacs for windows
    MediaPlayer... bundle VLC & mplayer
    Solitaire...
    Instant Messenger? Bundle Pigdin...
    MSPaint? Bundle GIMP

    And we complain about BLOAT now? Wait till you see all the crap that gets bundled. And the MS products will still get used more? Why, because Joe Sixpack will look at the NAMES of the applications and won't have to guess what they do? Can you look at 99% of the linux apps out there and guess what they do? Notepad/MediaPlayer/Instant Messenger/MS Paint are pretty obvious what they do. GIMP? I'm not explaining that one.

  2. Re:And What of the Others? by g2devi · · Score: 5, Interesting

    It's not about being childish. The key problem is, Microsoft is currently using it's monopoly in one area to try to create monopolies in other areas, such as mail (MSN/Exchange), web standards (IE/ActiveX), web framework (SilverLight/.NET), games (XBox), music (Zune), DRM (WMV), office software and document formats (MSOffice, OOXML), etc. Lately, Microsoft has been hobbled in its attempt by the failure of Windows Vista, but if Windows 7 succeeds, you can expect Microsoft to return to its old ways and it may eventually succeed.

    Microsoft's power to create new monopolies, lies in four areas:
    * Exchange
    * IE
    * MS Office
    * Ties to MSN (Not firm, but Microsoft has tried to tie users to Passport in the past)
    Windows Admins and developers can automatically assume that if you have Windows, you'll use Exchange, IE, MS Office, and anything required by these apps.

    If users are given choice, it's no longer a safe bet. It can be done in a fairly straightforward manner. Force Microsoft not to install any of these apps in the default Windows install. Then provide a supplementary CD, whereby users have a choice of picking a pre-selected list of software which would include:
    * IE
    * Opera
    * Firefox
    * Google Chrome
    * Thunderbird
    * Exchange Client
    * OpenOffice
    * MS Works or MS Office Trial Version (which can be unlocked by purchasing an activation code online)
    with a brief blurb by each software vendor (not Microsoft) why you should pick their software over the others.

    In such a situation, Microsoft would be on equal footing as other software, so it couldn't leverage it's monopoly. If people *choose* Microsoft software over the alternatives, then it will win on merit, not tie-in.