EC to investigate new charges against Microsoft

By Scott M. Fulton, III, BetaNews

January 14, 2008, 11:26 AM

Surprising perhaps no one, the European Commission stated this morning in Brussels it will proceed with a fresh round of investigations against Microsoft, on some very familiar sounding allegations.

A complaint raised by the makers of the Opera Web browser that Microsoft's tying of Internet Explorer to Windows makes it harder for others to compete, is one of two almost nostalgic complaints which the European Commission agreed today that it will formally investigate.

The other complaint was raised by a familiar foe of Microsoft in Europe, the European Committee for Interoperable Systems, which we learned today had filed a separate complaint that Microsoft has not disclosed certain interoperability information regarding some of its server software, Microsoft Office, and the .NET Framework. The EC today characterized this not as a failure to turn over documents but rather as an "illegal refusal" to do so, implying that at some point, Microsoft stood firm on its declining to release some element of documentation. It is not yet clear which part that would be.

In addition, while the Commission happens to be in the investigation business, it said this morning it will add a third matter to the mix on others' behalf: "The Commission's examination will therefore focus on all these areas," reads this morning's statement from Brussels, "including the question whether Microsoft's new file format Office Open XML, as implemented in Office, is sufficiently interoperable with competitors' products."

Last month, the ECIS signed onto Opera's complaint in a written statement. "By tying its Internet Explorer product to its monopoly Windows operating system and refusing to faithfully implement industry accepted open standards," stated ECIS spokesperson Thomas Vinje at the time, "Microsoft deprives consumers of a real choice in Internet browsers. Browsers are the gateway to the Internet. Microsoft seeks to control this gateway."

Tests of the recent builds of both the release and beta editions of Internet Explorer using an accepted independent test battery called Acid2 showed the latest build of IE8 passed the test, and so did Firefox 3.0 Beta 2. The most recently patched version of IE7 failed the Acid2 test, though so did Firefox 2.0.0.11.

As the EC statement this morning goes on, "The complaint [from Opera] 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."

One "allegedly introduced" technology may be XAML, Microsoft's XML-based layout schema for active controls in Web pages. XAML also applies, however, to non-browser-based Internet applications such as Web services, including apps implemented in Silverlight. XAML applications will run through other browsers including Firefox so long as the Silverlight component (with the WPF/E engine built-in) is installed. However, Opera users have reported difficulty with apps that use XAML.

Opera Software has not yet released a statement on the matter, and the ECIS has yet to post a response to the EC's decision.

1:10 pm ET January 14, 2008 - This afternoon, a Microsoft spokesperson issued this comment on the matter: "We will cooperate fully with the Commission's investigation and provide any and all information necessary. We are committed to ensuring that Microsoft is in full compliance with European law and our obligations as established by the European Court of First Instance in its September 2007 ruling."