Comments on: Microsoft vs. the EU: Can we legislate to force a company to use Web standards ..

By: Ajit Jaokar

Ajit Jaokar — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 14:02:49 +0000

Thanks Andy, Ver
Like I emphasise, I am addressing a very narrow scope of thus discussion i.e. can a company be forced to follow Web standard. I am not addressing the bundling issue(since it is beyond the scope of my understanding)
Coming back to Web standads though .. forcing a company to follow web standards is a opening can of worms. Web standards are a moving target anyway.
Secondly, the existance of companies not following web standards is a choice and also a part of the ecosystem
This is my point. Same with YouTube / Flash.
Interesting you say it was a PR stunt. Thats how I saw it as well. So, I was surprised to see it come this far
I believe in the role of the government – increasingly so to get us out of recession. But this is not the way to do so! kind rgds Ajit

By: Ver Noss

Ver Noss — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 12:58:58 +0000

Monopolies must behave differently than other companies — this is a cornerstone of how capitalism works. It would have been fine for MS to develop a crappy browser if people had to download and install it just like for other browsers. However, by tying IE to Windows, they make use of a monopoly to force their browser onto unsupecting users.
Therefore, I think the EU is right in taking on Microsoft. This may also open the door for web standards that havn’t had a chance due to lack of support in IE. For example, SVG may finally see real use on the web.

By: Andy

Andy — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 04:07:57 +0000

Opera launched the complaint AFTER Microsoft invaded Standards Norway and subverted the Norwegian standard process to get its OOXML file format adopted. It was a simple PR stunt. Opera firmly believes in openness of standards and feels treatened by Microsoft’s patenting practice.