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Rivals attack Vista as illegal under EU rules
By David Lawsky and Sabina Zawadzki
1 hour, 45 minutes ago
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - A coalition of rivals charged on Friday that Microsoft
Corp.'s new Vista operating system coming out next week will perpetuate
practices found illegal in the European Union nearly three years ago.
The group, which includes IBM, Nokia, Sun Microsystems, Adobe, Oracle and Red
Hat, said its complaints made last year are yet to be addressed just days before
Vista is due for release.
The European Commission found in 2004 that Microsoft used its dominance to
muscle out RealNetworks and other makers of audio and video streaming software
and that it made its desktop Windows deliberately incompatible with rivals'
server software.
"Microsoft has clearly chosen to ignore the fundamental principles of the
Commission's March 2004 decision," said Simon Awde, chairman of the European
Committee for Interoperable Systems (ECIS).
Microsoft said it had no comment. The Commission was not ready to act.
"We are in the process of examining this complaint," a Commission spokesman
said. ECIS disclosed on Friday that the latest additions to its complaint were
made only last month, after it studied Vista.
Microsoft's new Vista operating system is due for formal release on Tuesday,
including a major rollout in Brussels, complete with a news conference and
party.
"Vista is the first step of Microsoft's strategy to extend its market dominance
to the Internet," the ECIS statement said.
It said Microsoft's XAML markup language was "positioned to replace HTML," the
industry standard for publishing documents on the Internet. XAML would be
dependent on Windows, and discriminatory against systems such as Linux, the
group said.
It said a so-called "open XML" platform file format, known as OOXML, is designed
to run seamlessly only on the Microsoft Office platform. It governs the way a
document is formatted and stored.
"The end result will be the continued absence of any real consumer choice, years
of waiting for Microsoft to improve -- or even debug -- its monopoly products
and of course high prices," said Thomas Vinje, lawyer for ECIS, in the
statement.
Other complainants in the group include Corel, RealNetworks , Linspire and
Opera.
SOME ISSUES RESOLVED
On some fronts, however, complaints were resolved. Microsoft announced earlier
this month concerns raised by security companies such as Symantec and McAfee had
been dealt with.
Those companies had said Vista would deny them access to the heart of the
operating system, which they needed to protect it from certain kinds of
malicious software. After negotiations, Microsoft said it would provide
information the firms needed.
"The information was indeed what we expected and what we were looking for," said
Cris Paden, manager of corporate public relations for Symantec, who earlier had
raised concerns.
Microsoft has challenged the Commission's 2004 decision, which included a record
fine of nearly 500 million euros ($649.4 million) and orders to change its
business practices. It awaits a decision by the EU's Court of First Instance.
By David Lawsky and Sabina Zawadzki
1 hour, 45 minutes ago
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - A coalition of rivals charged on Friday that Microsoft
Corp.'s new Vista operating system coming out next week will perpetuate
practices found illegal in the European Union nearly three years ago.
The group, which includes IBM, Nokia, Sun Microsystems, Adobe, Oracle and Red
Hat, said its complaints made last year are yet to be addressed just days before
Vista is due for release.
The European Commission found in 2004 that Microsoft used its dominance to
muscle out RealNetworks and other makers of audio and video streaming software
and that it made its desktop Windows deliberately incompatible with rivals'
server software.
"Microsoft has clearly chosen to ignore the fundamental principles of the
Commission's March 2004 decision," said Simon Awde, chairman of the European
Committee for Interoperable Systems (ECIS).
Microsoft said it had no comment. The Commission was not ready to act.
"We are in the process of examining this complaint," a Commission spokesman
said. ECIS disclosed on Friday that the latest additions to its complaint were
made only last month, after it studied Vista.
Microsoft's new Vista operating system is due for formal release on Tuesday,
including a major rollout in Brussels, complete with a news conference and
party.
"Vista is the first step of Microsoft's strategy to extend its market dominance
to the Internet," the ECIS statement said.
It said Microsoft's XAML markup language was "positioned to replace HTML," the
industry standard for publishing documents on the Internet. XAML would be
dependent on Windows, and discriminatory against systems such as Linux, the
group said.
It said a so-called "open XML" platform file format, known as OOXML, is designed
to run seamlessly only on the Microsoft Office platform. It governs the way a
document is formatted and stored.
"The end result will be the continued absence of any real consumer choice, years
of waiting for Microsoft to improve -- or even debug -- its monopoly products
and of course high prices," said Thomas Vinje, lawyer for ECIS, in the
statement.
Other complainants in the group include Corel, RealNetworks , Linspire and
Opera.
SOME ISSUES RESOLVED
On some fronts, however, complaints were resolved. Microsoft announced earlier
this month concerns raised by security companies such as Symantec and McAfee had
been dealt with.
Those companies had said Vista would deny them access to the heart of the
operating system, which they needed to protect it from certain kinds of
malicious software. After negotiations, Microsoft said it would provide
information the firms needed.
"The information was indeed what we expected and what we were looking for," said
Cris Paden, manager of corporate public relations for Symantec, who earlier had
raised concerns.
Microsoft has challenged the Commission's 2004 decision, which included a record
fine of nearly 500 million euros ($649.4 million) and orders to change its
business practices. It awaits a decision by the EU's Court of First Instance.
