Microsoft targeted in two new antitrust probes

Microsoft has once again come under the EU Commission's microscope, which opened two new antitrust investigations into the software giant's activities this week.

The first investigation comes in response to a complaint made by Opera to the EC last month, accusing Microsoft of illegally tying Internet Explorer to the Windows operating system.

Opera wants the Commission to force Microsoft to unbundle Internet Explorer from Windows and carry alternative browsers pre-installed with the OS and to ensure Microsoft follows fundamental open standards accepted by Web authoring communities instead of following what Opera calls an "embrace, extend and extinguish" strategy.

Opera hopes the investigation will be steered by the Court of First Instance's confirmation last year of the European Court's 2004 decision that Microsoft illegally tied its Media Player to Windows.

Although Microsoft has decided not to appeal the 2004 ruling again and will comply with the decision, it said it believes the bundling of Internet Explorer benefits consumers.

"We believe the inclusion of the [IE] browser into the operating system benefits consumers, and that consumers and PC manufacturers are already free to choose to use any browsers they wish," a Microsoft representative said last month in response to Opera's complaint.

The second EC antitrust probe comes in response to a complaint made by the European Committee for Interoperable Systems (ECIS) -- whose members include Adobe, IBM, Nokia, Oracle, RealNetworks, Red Hat and Sun -- which describes itself as promoting market conditions in the ICT sector which encourage competition.

According the Committee, Microsoft has illegally refused to disclose interoperability information across a broad range of products, including information related to its Office suite, a number of its server products, and also in relation to the so-called .NET Framework.

The ECIS has also sided publicly with member Opera's complaint, with its legal counsel Thomas Vinje saying in a statement: "By tying its Internet Explorer product to its monopoly Windows operating system and refusing to faithfully implement industry accepted open standards, Microsoft deprives consumers of a real choice in Internet browsers. Browsers are the gateway to the Internet. Microsoft seeks to control this gateway."

The Commission's examination will also consider whether Microsoft's file format Office Open XML is sufficiently interoperable with competitors' products.

Intel also in the firing line
Microsoft is not the only company facing the antitrust music, with New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo launching his own antitrust probe into Intel's trade practices last Thursday.

Cuomo is investigating whether Intel coerced customers to exclude rival AMD from the worldwide market for x86 computer processing units which, according to the attorney's office, "accounts for over US$30 billion in annual worldwide sales, with Intel retaining the lion's share of the market, estimated at 90 percent by revenue and 80 percent by volume".

The probe is not Intel's first encounter with antitrust hearings, with courtrooms over the world examining the chip manufacturer. The European Commission accused Intel of uncompetitive behaviour in June last year, while the Japanese Federal Trade Commission issued a cease and desist order in 2005 requiring Intel to stop offering monetary rebates in return for the company's customers limiting the use of rivals' chips. AMD also filed a case in the US District Court of Delaware in 2005.