I’m sure you’ve heard about Microsoft’s constant battle with the European courts. Essentially Europe is saying (and people have been agreeing) that bundling software such as Internet Explorer and Windows Media Player into the OS is unfair on rival software companies. So far Microsoft have been forced to release a version of Windows without Media Player, fined $1.5 billion and most recently had to create a ballot screen allowing the consumer to choose which browser they want… as well as others.

As you can probably tell I’m not totally convinced they deserve it. Before you say it I’m no Microsoft fan boy, I’m just a fan of things being logical. Take for instance the recent problems they’ve got into for shipping Windows with Internet Explorer pre-installed. The European Union have been saying that this gives Internet Explorer an unfair advantage over other browsers. Now okay, it’s certainly true that more people will use IE, mainly people who aren’t interested enough to change and don’t want the hassle and confusion of being asked what they’d like to use. Adding in this option is just going to lower that person’s opinion on the system in general “why can’t it just work?”. It must be even worse when something like Windows Media Player just isn’t installed at all. Why should Microsoft be forced to lower people’s opinions of their product, is this fair? Personally I can see all of this group of people clicking on the icon which has the Microsoft logo on it anyway, it what they know, they might be drawn to Chrome as well I suppose as Google is so ubiquitous when it comes to people thinking about the web.

If you listen to Google (and they’ve certainly been correct about a few things given their success) the web browser is the future of the OS. They’ve got a good point, the majority of the time I’m on the computer I’m in a browser, and as thing’s inevitably become more and more cloud based, the percentage of time I spend out of it’s only going to get smaller. So what on earth’s is wrong with Microsoft including their own, if it’s the biggest part the operating system surely they should be allowed to do it like they want.

When trying to think of an example to back myself up the first thing that comes to mind is Apple’s iPhone/Pod. These aren’t just solely music players any more but music is definitely one of the biggest parts. Can you imagine Europe suddenly saying they’ve got to include a ballot on start-up asking the user which music player they’d like to use. It’s just silly, is there really any difference with IE? Legally maybe (I’m really not fantastic at the legal stuff, feel free to leave a comment explaining, I’d love to know) but in essence no, well that’s my opinion anyway!

I’m just getting the impression that Microsoft are being unfairly targeted because they’re a sure thing when it comes to paying out a fine. I think these other companies should if anything be grateful to them for creating the system that their entire business is based on.

Apologies for the rant, I’m just getting annoyed that companies that do well are immediately targeted by lawsuit after lawsuit, and it looks like Google are next on the list – link.

What are your views on this? I’m sure what I’ve said could easily have gaping holes in it, I’m just giving you my opinion. I’d love to hear what you think or why you think what I’ve said is wrong. It’s all about learning people! Thanks for your comments .