28 January 2007
EC Again Looking at Microsoft Anti-Competitive Practices
Microsoft is yet again in trouble with the European Commission. This time IBM, Oracle, Red Hat, Nokia, Sun Microsystems, Adobe, Corel, RealNetworks, Linspire and Opera are the ones making the complaint that Vista will continue practices that have been considered illegal in the EU for almost 3 years.
The chairman of the European Committee for Interoperable Systems (ECIS) agrees that Microsoft has ignored the principles set in the EC's decision from March 2004. The ECIS states that Vista is a step to dominate the Internet and feels that the XAML markup language was "positioned to replace HTML". XAML is completely dependent on Windows and discriminates against other systems like Linux. OOXML as well works only in Microsoft Office and was not made to 'play' well with other office suites.
The ECIS believes that the result of Microsoft's actions will prevent any real choice for consumers.
On the bright side, earlier issues raised by Symantec and other anti-virus and security software creators have been solved and Symantec and a few other companies have been able to release updates in time for the release of Vista.
Like most companies, Microsoft tries to keep a strong market position, the problem comes that unlike other companies who try to release products that actually are innovative and compete with competitors, Microsoft has a strategy of releasing a not so unique Windows. If Windows were considered stable and secure that may be enough to easily hold their market position ignoring the overpriced issue with Vista. Most people use some version of Windows and it provides them with most of what they want. What it usually fails to provide is security and stability - try leaving a standard Windows system up for 2 months of standard use. Vista adds another feature that people will not like, limitations. With the security features created for Vista, users are more restricted and put in a box that allows them to use their computer how Microsoft thinks they want to use it. There is no thinking outside of the box in Vista. This is not something that will help Microsoft keep users. We are already seeing in the news people and companies saying that Vista will not work for them and they are forced to choose from Linux and Mac.
The chairman of the European Committee for Interoperable Systems (ECIS) agrees that Microsoft has ignored the principles set in the EC's decision from March 2004. The ECIS states that Vista is a step to dominate the Internet and feels that the XAML markup language was "positioned to replace HTML". XAML is completely dependent on Windows and discriminates against other systems like Linux. OOXML as well works only in Microsoft Office and was not made to 'play' well with other office suites.
The ECIS believes that the result of Microsoft's actions will prevent any real choice for consumers.
On the bright side, earlier issues raised by Symantec and other anti-virus and security software creators have been solved and Symantec and a few other companies have been able to release updates in time for the release of Vista.
Like most companies, Microsoft tries to keep a strong market position, the problem comes that unlike other companies who try to release products that actually are innovative and compete with competitors, Microsoft has a strategy of releasing a not so unique Windows. If Windows were considered stable and secure that may be enough to easily hold their market position ignoring the overpriced issue with Vista. Most people use some version of Windows and it provides them with most of what they want. What it usually fails to provide is security and stability - try leaving a standard Windows system up for 2 months of standard use. Vista adds another feature that people will not like, limitations. With the security features created for Vista, users are more restricted and put in a box that allows them to use their computer how Microsoft thinks they want to use it. There is no thinking outside of the box in Vista. This is not something that will help Microsoft keep users. We are already seeing in the news people and companies saying that Vista will not work for them and they are forced to choose from Linux and Mac.
Labels: EC, microsoft, office, os, vista, windows
