Mozilla, EU and Microsoft – The battle no more rages on
The dilemma has been cleared; Mozilla’s success in obtaining a seat with the European Commission has been able to boost the Firefox browser against an antimonopoly case against Microsoft. The source of the news is EC.
Mozilla’s third-party status entitled the Firefox browser for receiving access to all the confidential documents that hold valid in the case; moreover, Mozilla now has the permission to voice any objection that they may think is reasonable.
The European Commission, being an executive arm of European Union had put Microsoft formally on a notice in mid-January. The objection was regarding making the IE browser a part of the Windows operating system and bundling it away with the OS. It was the complaints from rival browser manufacturer Opera that made the Commission act finally; now Microsoft has two months within which it must respond to all the allegations brought and to open the case that may stretch to involvements of the third-parties. Mozilla; however, is holding back its comments right now, though they agree with the Commission and their claim of Microsoft harming the competition for the Web browsers and influencing the consumers’ choice. As of now, the Commission has settled its thoughts on making Microsoft include the rival browsers within the Windows operating system as a remedy.
The Chairman for Mozilla wrote a few things on her own blog and let’s put it up here in her own words:
I’ll be paying close attention to the EC’s activities, both personally and on behalf of Mozilla. Mozilla has enormous expertise in this area. It’s an extremely complex area, involving browsers, user experience, the OEM and other distribution channels, and the foundations for ongoing innovation. An effective remedy would be a watershed event; a poorly constructed remedy could cause unfortunate damage.
I’d like to offer Mozilla’s expertise as a resource to the EC as it considers what an effective remedy would entail. I’ll be reaching out to people I know with particular history, expertise and ideas regarding these topics. If you’ve got specific ideas or concerns please feel free to contact me. I’ll post more as the discussion develops.
But what made her omit her own views on the effects of putting Firefox and IE together? No answer to that; however, Mike Connor (Firefox architect) commented something to PCPro - “My personal view is that it’s not the right outcome; the choice would be weird. There’s no good user interface for that.”
Connor noted that this is his personal opinion and that Mozilla is still determining its position on the issue, according to PCPro.
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