Rivals whine about Microsoft EU antitrust ruling
InfoWorld | at | by Mike
AS the European Union wraps up its antitrust investigation into Microsoft, competitors fear that the European Commission may issue a ruling that fails to prevent future abuses by the software maker.
One of the main issues in the case that Microsoft and the Commission are farthest apart on is the bundling of Media Player in the Windows operating system. The Commission, which among other things oversees EU competition regulation, believes that this form of bundling gives Media Player an unfair advantage over competitors. Microsoft has said it is unwilling to take the video and audio player out of Windows.
Microsoft competitors want the European competition regulator to word its ruling in such a way that it applies to the bundling of other middleware products.