'Preposterous' EU charges forced 'puckish' Microsoft move, says antitrust expert

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Computerworld - Microsoft's plan to dump Internet Explorer (IE) from Windows 7 for the European market is a move to discredit antitrust regulators by tying its proposal to a failed enforcement effort from 2005, a noted antitrust expert said today.

"It's sort of a puckish thing to do, when you think about it," said William Page, co-author of The Microsoft Case: Antitrust, High Technology, and Consumer Welfare (University of Chicago Press, 2009). "Their solution is a little bit like Windows XP [and Vista] 'N,' which dramatizes that the EU essentially wants the same thing this time. But everyone knows that 'N' was a total flop."

Windows XP N, and later, Windows Vista N, were special editions that omitted Windows Media Player, which Microsoft was forced to create for Europeans after losing an earlier antitrust case. By all accounts, Windows XP and Vista N have been major busts, with few copies sold and no computer makers installing them on new PCs.

Microsoft's obvious attempt to tie its solution to the failed "N" editions of 2005 -- it went so far as to say it will slap the letter "E" on the Windows 7 editions that omit IE -- is probably one reason why the EU has turned a cold shoulder to the company's plan, said Page.

"The Commission had suggested to Microsoft that consumers be provided with a choice of Web browsers," EU regulators said today in a statement. "Instead Microsoft has apparently decided to supply retail consumers with a version of Windows without a Web browser at all. Rather than more choice, Microsoft seems to have chosen to provide less."

The European Commission, the EU's antitrust agency, made it clear that Microsoft's proposal will probably not be enough. "In terms of potential remedies, if the Commission were to find that Microsoft had committed an abuse, the Commission has suggested that consumers should be offered a choice of browser, not that Windows should be supplied without a browser at all."

Regulators also implicitly called out the Windows XP N solution today, noting that its assessment of Microsoft's actions -- the commission charged Microsoft with illegally shielding IE from competition by bundling it with its operating systems -- would be guided by the successful case against the company over "tying" Windows Media Player to the OS.

Puckish Microsoft's move may be, but it's also one that should never have been necessary, said Page, who is on the faculty of the Levin College of Law at the University of Florida. "My problem all along with the EU's actions is that with all versions of Windows, OEMs have had the freedom to uninstall IE and install other browsers. But they haven't done that."