Microsoft gets backing in the EU Antitrust Case

Microsoft gets backing in the EU Antitrust Case

Not everyone thinks that Microsoft is an evil entity. The company has now gained support in the form of a group of around 1,600 small and medium-sized companies who wants to join the EU Antitrust case against the software giant Microsoft. The companies represent The International Association of Microsoft Certified Partners Inc and they develop software based on the Windows operating system.

They have now asked the European Court of First Instance in Luxembourg for permission to support Microsoft in their appeal against the ruling of the courts in this case. The group’s president Per Werngren said in a statement yesterday: “We’re fighting a trend that’s weakening our business. It’s not a matter of principle. It’s a matter of our bread and butter.” They claim that the effects in the ruling would increase of their costs to develop software and in the end cause problems for the end customers.

Microsoft Software powers more than 90% of the desktops around the world. Windows Operating System is the most popular OS around and the company has been blamed to include various components in the OS that makes it hard for competition to survive in the market. Companies like RealNetworks claims that incorporating Windows Media Player in the Windows XP Operating System has led to huge losses for them, as the consumer no longer feels the need for downloading their applications.

Similar practices in the past have led to practical demise of the Netscape Navigator browser as Microsoft incorporated their Internet Explorer in the Windows 98 Operating System years ago. AOL is now trying hard to revive the Netscape brand by re-launching a refurnished version of Netscape browser based on the Firefox. Ironically, it also comes powered by the Internet Explorer engine in addition to the Gecko engine.