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Vista, the new operating system developed by Microsoft, has received vivid criticism from European officials and possible competitors regarding the new features that might take advantage of the Microsoft position in the market.

Two major software companies, Symantec and Adobe, have complained to EU regarding certain electronic document and security features of Vista.

Symantec has expressed its concern related to the Windows Security Center and to the feature called PatchGuard that blocks access to the system kernel. Adobe has complained about the inclusion in the new Microsoft product of a free software for reading and writing electronic documents.

In its turn, the European Commission has also expressed concerns on how compatible the new operating system would be with other companies' products. It also fears that Microsoft's product could eliminate the competition in computer security.

A letter was sent to Microsoft in March 2006, on this matter, by commissioner Neelie Kroes expressing the fear that the bundling of Vista with a very sophisticated antivirus program would have a similar impact as to the bundling of Media Player with Windows XP in 2004. Then, the Commission had fined Microsoft about 500 million euro considering the bundling as anti-competitive and ordered a new version of Windows without Media Player for the European market.

Microsoft and its partners has accused the Commission of driving a "vendetta" against the company and advised over the risk that the EU actions would delay the release of Vista.

In response to the criticisms, the EU Competition Commissioner said that the agency was not taking actions to prevent Microsoft from making its operating system more secure but was trying to ensure competitiveness is kept on the security software market. Kroes emphasized that she was not asking Microsoft to launch Vista without any security system but she wanted to see changes in the European version to open it up to other software producers.

In a letter to Financial Times she wrote: "I have seen it suggested that the Commission may seek to prevent Microsoft from improving the security of its operating system. This is categorically not the case."

While hoping that the Commission will not ask for the removal of security features in Europe, Microsoft has announced the launching of the product for January.

European Union Criticized for Action Against Microsoft (7.09.2006)
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,127073-pg,1-RSS,RSS/article.html

EU Commissioner defends herself against Microsoft's criticism (20.09.2006)
http://www.heise.de/english/newsticker/news/78435

Yet Another Antitrust Challenge for Microsoft? (21.09.2006)
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,127219-page,1-c,vistalonghorn/articl...

Adobe, Symantec ask EU to ban Vista bundling (21.09.2006)
http://msn-cnet.com.com/Adobe,+Symantec+ask+EU+to+ban+Vista+bundling/2...

Microsoft accused over Vista row (19.09.2006)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/5359130.stm