Is It Curtains for the Internet Explorer and Windows Marriage?

Is it curtains for the Internet Explorer and Windows marriage? Did Norway-based browser developer Opera managed to indeed plant the seeds of a divorce between IE and Windows? Well, Microsoft is not in any rush to strip its proprietary browser from the Windows operating system. In fact, the Redmond company has reacted to the complaints Opera has filled in 2007 with the European Union Antitrust Commission, responding that it will in no way voluntarily separate the two products.

Microsoft integrated Internet Explorer into Windows as a response to the market dominance of the Netscape browser. As a direct result of that move, Netscape is now dead. In the past month, Opera went to the EU antitrust regulators and pointed the finger at Microsoft, accusing the company of monopolist practices and abuse of its Windows dominant position in order to gain the lion's share of the browser market. The Commission reacted to the complaint and has debuted a formal investigation against Microsoft.

"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", reads an excerpt out of the announcement presented by the EU Antitrust Commission.

But, the intimate connection between Internet Explorer and Windows is not the sole aspect under scrutiny. The commission will also look at the level of interoperability of the Microsoft Open XML standard, the default file format of Office 2007, and also at the company's increasing tendency to bundle Windows Live and Windows, as a part of its Software + Service business strategy.

"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", further alleges the Commission.

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