Opera Takes The Microsoft Bashing A Step Too Far

This recurring subject of the Windows-Internet Explorer bundle’s anti-competitive behavior, as was recently reported once more by the BBC, is, I must say, a very tired one.

Yes, it is true that Microsoft packages its Internet browser with its operating systems sold both off the shelf and as partially-subsidized software for most new PCs. And no, that is not the ideal scenario other software manufacturers – Mozilla and Opera, to name just a couple – favor. They would, generally speaking, instead prefer the consumer be offered a range of choices upon boot, as it were.

That’s because, as is generally the case with the natural habits of consumers, PC users more or less enjoy performing the fewest tasks possible in order to get from A to B. Thus one would have a natural proclivity to bother not with extra downloads and “purposeless” experimentation. Instead, one would typically use “what’s already there.” In the case of Windows XP and Vista installations, that means Internet Explorer, Microsoft’s homegrown gateway to the Web.

But would Redmond have it any other way? Really, if one were think justly and fairly about the rules of competition amongst corporations on the whole, those huffing and puffing over the jump-start Microsoft has enjoyed for the past decade or more should presumably express anger over the goings on at Cupertino as well. For years Apple has packaged its Safari browser in with its annual or bi-annual launchings of OS X operating system revisions. That must foster some resentment among third parties, no?

Or do the red flags only get raised on the majority market share holder? MSFT’s an easy target. Big. Wealthy. Again, big. It’s almost reflexive for smaller companies to send the software giant nasty notes – whether directly or through channels such as the EU. Is it truly the only piece of fair game roaming the technological plains? Hardly.

This isn’t to say Microsoft doesn’t deserve many of the criticisms leveled again its operations and strategies. It’s been undeniably ruthless in its drive to conquer various segments of the software space. (That is of course changing as Web development progresses.) Much of the backlash that has ensued over the last 6-7 years is quite warranted, even.

But it’s one thing to revolt against Microsoft’s dominance, and another to attempt to find legal justification for the enforcement of limits on what the company can and cannot do as far the development and distribution of the Internet Explorer browser – an issue Opera has now raised before the European Commission.

Opera’s claim, as reported in the BBC on Friday, is that Microsoft has purposely “flouted Web standards, making it much harder for browser to be interoperable.” The company has asked the EC (an institution of the EU) to consider a proposal that would force Microsoft to “separate IE from Windows” and asked that computer manufacturers be made to “pre-install alternative browsers on new PCs. Opera hopes to create a more “fair” environment in which to function.

A request that I myself see as somewhat ridiculous.

Though it is certainly true that the market leader is the market leader because of the methodology it’s used in the past and continues to apply to this day, the fact that it is either fair or unfair is irrelevant.

Opera and others ask that consumers be “free to choose” any browser they wish. Well, they can do so. As long as the engineers of such software are willing and able to market their solutions openly and unfettered, interested consumers may make selections as they so desire. (That of course requires some effort on the part of the consumer, and consumers by design prefer to take the route which requires the least amount of effort to travel. Thus third-party developers must contend with that elemental conflict on an ongoing basis. But that is something they have chosen to pursue from the start.)

To sum up, the difficulty for alternative browsers to encroach on IE’s dominant position is indeed evident. IE is effectively ingrained in the psyche of millions of people around the globe, and to break that spell is a true test of strength, mettle, and advertising prowess. But the reality is that the spell has been shown to be broken. One success: the Firefox browser.

Therefore, I see absolutely no leg for Opera to stand upon in respect to its complaint. Nor any other third-party entity for that matter. If logic prevails in the EC’s deliberation, Microsoft will see the charge soon dismissed. As it should be.