So, I read that the European Commission will place obstacles in the way of Microsoft "using Windows to gain an edge elsewhere". I am excited about what this may mean for greater diversity in commonly-used software, and about the opening up of the protocols that Microsoft software uses to communicate.
Some choice quotations from the article:
- "The commission's action will go far beyond a 2001 U.S. settlement with Microsoft over its Internet Explorer browser, which exacted concessions but let the company continue to integrate the browser with its dominant Windows operating system."
- "That move sets up European regulators as a major roadblock to Microsoft's ambitions to use Windows to gain an edge in more technologies. Microsoft's links in its Windows XP system to mobile-phone software and instant computer-to-computer messaging are also under investigation by the commission."
- "The commission's prospective ruling was hailed as a landmark by Microsoft competitors and others frustrated by the company's continued Windows-aided march into new markets."
- "Mr. Monti intends to demand that Microsoft release more information about Windows"
- "Sun [....] has been battling what it views as one of Microsoft's biggest unfair advantages -- that information passes between desktop Windows systems and Microsoft's server operating system in forms that rival products can't decode."