"As for the tying of separate software products, in its
Microsoft judgment of 17 September 2007, the Court of First
Instance confirmed the principles that must be respected by
dominant companies. In a complaint by Opera, a competing browser
vendor, Microsoft is alleged to have engaged in illegal tying of
its Internet Explorer product to its dominant Windows operating
system. The complaint alleges that there is ongoing competitive
harm from Microsoft's practices, in particular in view of new
proprietary technologies that Microsoft has allegedly introduced in
its browser that would reduce compatibility with open internet
standards, and therefore hinder competition. In addition,
allegations of tying of other separate software products by
Microsoft, including desktop search and Windows Live have been
brought to the Commission's attention. The Commission's
investigation will therefore focus on allegations that a range of
products have been unlawfully tied to sales of Microsoft's dominant
operating system.
""Microsoft must give users real choice, and this should include
not just buyers of new computers, but also existing users," the
ECIS statement says. Windows 7 hasn't been released yet and it
won't be until later this year. What is the remedy for ongoing
abuses or the installed base of 90 percent of personal computers?
Further, this is not a world-wide solution, and without a
world-wide solution, ECIS states, the anti-competitive network
effects will continue to impact European users. Then there is the
issue of Microsoft's history of "vitiating measures designed to
promote competition". And then, ECIS addresses Silverlight.
"Commitments are needed to avoid circumvention of the illegal IE
tie by tying other Microsoft products such as Silverlight," ECIS
says."
