In the European Union, Opera is in the process of bringing a suit against Microsoft for bundling Internet Explorer with its operating system. Microsoft is slated to include Internet Explorer 8 in its latest operating system, Windows 7. Recently, Mozilla foundation threw its hat in the ring with Opera to go up against Microsoft, and was admitted as an expert third-party to voice an opinion during the proceedings. And with the youngest browser out of the group, Google has just filed to be granted the same voice in the matter due to last year’s release of Google Chrome.
Google contends that there is a lot of problems which can be solved, but often times solving a problem introduces a lot more new problems. They believe that having released the code comprised partly of Mozilla browser engine Gecko and Safari’s web kit, along with some other Google customized code, they have enough experience to weigh in.
With these competitors stacked against Micrsoft, if the case is lost we may see a delay in shipment of Windows 7 in the EU. However, that begs the question, will they force Microsoft to license and include other browsers when someone installs Windows 7, or will it simply ship with no browser at all? The latter makes little sense – you’ll need a web browser to get to web sites to download another browser, unless they expect their users to learn how to FTP into Mozilla’s servers to download the latest Firefox release?
You don’t have to wait for a court case to chime in with your opinion – what do you think of further antitrust litigation against the Redmond software giant? Let me know in the comments.