Free-market think tank urges EU to unbundle Windows
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'No natural monopoly' The Globalisation Institute, a European think-tank run by free market advocates, today went on the offensive against Microsoft, calling on the EU to require all PCs to be sold without operating systems.â¦
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The EU struck at the commercial backbone of Microsoftâs global software empire today - forcing the company for the first time to strip its Windows platform of a popular feature to give competitors a better shot at success.
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Microsoft asked a European Union  judge Thursday to freeze a European Commission order forcing it  to share technology with competitors, but a rival said the  software giant used to provide such information freely.
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A European judge will hear arguments on Friday on whether Microsoft should be forced to remove its music and video player from its Windows system.
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SAN FRANCISCO - Three prominent open source software developers, including Linus Torvalds, the creator of Linux, have issued a statement urging the European Union Council to reject proposed legislation that would codify the practice of granting software patents in the E.U.
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Next version of Windows will create a cascade of benefits for local European economies, says Microsoft-sponsored study.
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InfoWorld - A new U.K. think tank launched on Monday will analyze how open-source software can be used in government and the private sector.
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U.K. users will be able to replace pirated versions of Windows that they have purchased.
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(InfoWorld) - Two engineers at the computer security firm Symantec are coming to Brussels next week to discuss theÂ antitrust threatÂ posed to their company by the upcoming version of Microsoft's Windows, dubbed Vista, a Symantec spokesman said Thursday. Vice President for Consumer Engineering Rowan Trollope and a senior engineer in the technology strategy office, Bruce McCorkendale, will press their case to the European antitrust regulator, the European Commission. Vista is due to launch at the beginning of next year. The Commission hasÂ warned MicrosoftÂ about the possible impact on competition ofÂ Vista's built-in security software. The regulator fears that by including a sophisticated antivirus program into Vista, this could have a similar effect to the bundling of Media Player with Windows XP. Two and a half years ago the Commission ruled that the bundling of Media Player into Windows was anticompetitive and ordered Microsoft to launch a second version of Windows without Media Player. It alsoÂ fined the companyÂ nearly â¬500 million ($634 million). Meanwhile, Adobe Systems has told European Union regulators that Microsoft should be banned from bundling in free competing software for reading and writing electronic documents into Vista, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal Europe. The paper cites unnamed people familiar with the situation. Adobe's and Symantec's lobbying moves will come as no surprise to the Commission. Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes wrote to Microsoft in March expressing concern about Vista's impact on competition, and cited the computer security and document reader and writers sectors as examples of where Microsoft's bundling strategy might pose competition problems. However, earlier this week Kroes insisted she wasn't calling for Microsoft to launch Vista without any security system. "I have seen it suggested that the Commission may seek to prevent Microsoft from improving the security of its operating system. This is categorically not the case," she wrote in a letter to the Financial Times newspaper.ADVERTISEMENTMAKE SOA REAL WITH IBM WEBSPHERE PODCASTStreamline processes and maximize efficiency within a proven service oriented architecture. Take back control of your business processes with IBM WebSphere.
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Microsoft MSFT.O raised the   possibility on Thursday that it might delay the introduction of   its new Vista Windows operating system in Europe, depending on   antitrust requirements of the European Commission.
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Software giant will offer a version of Windows without its media player in Europe.
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Microsoft says it will comply with sanctions imposed by the European Commission and upheld by the Court of First Instance. The EU says the software company must offer an unbundled version of Windows without Windows Media Player.
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Experts say countries from Brazil to Russia to China are shunning Bill Gates' proprietary Windows operating system in favor of open source systems such as Linux, mounting a major challenge to Microsoft's global dominance.
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BRUSSELS, Belgium -- Microsoft says if a judge won&#39;t suspend a European Union antitrust ruling, the company is ready to put a stripped-down version of Windows on the market.
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Microsoft MSFT.O said on Tuesday   that it hopes the European Commission will not require the   removal of important security features in Europe for its new   Windows Vista operating system.
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(InfoWorld) - A pro-business think tank in Europe has recommended unbundling Microsoft Corp.'s Windows operating system from sales of new PCs in order to give customers more choice when buying a new computer. A report from the Globalisation Institute in Brussels urges the European Commission to require that PCs and operating systems be sold separately in Europe to break Microsoft's monopoly in the desktop OS market. "Microsoft's dominant position is not in the public interest. It limits the market and has slowed technical development to the prejudice of consumers," said the report . The report is gaining attention partly because the Globalisation Institute usually advocates a hands-off approach to business regulation. It researches and develops policy options that are sometimes championed by politicians. Its report comes one week afterÂ Europe's second-highest court turned down Microsoft's appeal of the European Commission's 2004 antitrust ruling against it, which fined MicrosoftÂ around $600 million for abusing its OS monopoly. That investigation focused on how Microsoft bundles its Media Player software with Windows, which the Commission said harmed competitors such as RealNetworks Inc. It also required Microsoft to publish communications protocols so that its rivals can make their server software work better with Windows clients. The Globalization Institute said the Commission should take its thinking about Microsoft's OS to its "logical conclusion" and force PC makers to unbundle Windows from PCs as well. The report does not mentionÂ recent moves by vendors such as Dell Inc., and Hewlett-Packard Co.Â in Australia, to offer Linux as an option with PCs sold online. Globalisation Institute President Alex Singleton called those offers "a token gesture." "The fact is, when you go into a computer shop, the majority of consumers are not faced with a choice. Just because on the margins you are offered something else, I don't think those choices mean there is real competition." In addition, the report argued, offering a choice of OS is not a practical option for retail stores, where floor space is limited. Therefore PCs should be sold separately from the OS. "We do not believe this would add complexity for consumers. Consumers would simply be asked to insert an operating system DVD when they first turn on a new computer, which would then automatically configure itself," the report says. Such competition exists in hardware, the report argues, with microprocessors and hard drives available from a choice of vendors. But when consumers walk into a store they generally have only one choice for an OS: Windows. "The result is that consumers who, given the choice, would opt for a cheaper operating system, find themselves automatically buying the market leader." The group sent its report to the office of the European Commissioner for Competition, Neelie Kroes, Singleton said. Kroes led the Commission's antitrust case against Microsoft and has called the company's share of the desktop OS market "unacceptable." Microsoft representatives did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the report. Â
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So go easy on us, OK? Microsoft is touting the contribution of Windows Vista to EC economics in its latest attempt to persuade regulators to go easy on the operating system.â¦