Opera hits Microsoft with EC complaint

Opera is complaining to the European Commission that Microsoft is continuing to abuse its dominant position by tying its browser to its operating system and by not following web protocols.

Jon von Tetzchner, CEO of Opera, said: "We are filing this complaint on behalf of all consumers who are tired of having a monopolist make choices for them."

Opera is calling on the European Competition Commission to instigate two remedies on the software giant. Firstly, it wants Microsoft to unbundle Internet Explorer from Windows or to include another, alternative browser.

Secondly it asks the Commission to ensure Microsoft to follow open Web standards:

The complaint calls on Microsoft to adhere to its own public pronouncements to support these standards, instead of stifling them with its notorious 'Embrace, Extend and Extinguish' strategy. Microsoft's unilateral control over standards in some markets creates a de facto standard that is more costly to support, harder to maintain, and technologically inferior and that can even expose users to security risks.

Microsoft in October accepted defeat over an earlier Commission action, which found it guilty of abusing its monopoly position with regards to tying of its media player with its operating system and interoperability of work group servers. The software giant chose not to appeal the decision.

The full Opera statement is here.

Microsoft is not yet commenting on the Opera move.®