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Deutsch: Microsoft versucht, die EU-Auflagen zu erfüllen

After having long criticised and penalised Microsoft for its anti-competitive practices, the European Union seems to be now at the point of trying to close up the battle with the company after Microsoft has made a new offer to give its customers access to a wider range of web browsers through its Windows operating system and to share information with its competitors.

"The commission will formally market test proposals made by Microsoft to address concerns regarding the tying of Internet Explorer to the Windows PC operating system," said the EU's competition commissioner Neelie Kroes who also expressed the idea that a at a preliminary view it appears that "Microsoft's commitments would indeed address our concerns."

Microsoft's last proposal in July to give a choice screen that would allow consumers to pick from several browsers was not considered good enough and the European Commission (EC) asked for improvements. After intense discussions with the EC and with feedback from the industry, the present proposal gives a choice of 12 browsers and also addresses the other topic of concern, interoperability, by offering an exchange of information with other software companies.

However, the new proposal is not considered as good by everybody. FSFE (Free Software Foundation Europe) believes that, being close to the end of her mandate, Ms Kroes is rushing in closing up a deal with Microsoft that serves the company and not the EU.

FSFE argues that the solution proposed by Microsoft is tricky as the browsers offered as alternative are not pre-installed but must be downloaded. As many time downloading may be slow or even failing, depending on the connection, many people will prefer to just use Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE) as it will be much easier. In the foundation's opinion, Microsoft should pre-install alternative browsers and "any browser that the user chooses needs to be integrated into the Windows operating system to the same degree that IE is integrated today." FSFE also believes that the settlement between the EC and Microsoft should not be limited to Europe, as the company proposed, but apply globally.

As regarding the interoperability, the foundation argues that what is Microsoft offering now is only the interoperability information that is impossible to use in Free Software. What FSFE considers necessary is "a binding commitment from Microsoft to provide and update interoperability information on terms that are compatible with Free Software. This has to be a legally binding document, and needs to include guarantees as well as clear remedies if Microsoft fails to comply."

The European Committee for Interoperable Systems also consider the settlement "does not appear to deal with the inadequacies of Microsoft's standards compliance, unfair pricing practices or other concerns related to patent abuse or standards manipulation".

Microsoft's present proposal will be marked tested for one month period during which the industry and consumers may submit suggestions for further changes. Following the trial month, the Commission may decide to make Microsoft's commitment legally binding for five years and in that case, during this period, no action will be brought against Microsoft related to browsers.

In the meantime, the company is close to releasing in Europe its new browser - Windows 7 - that launches on 22 October worldwide. But not without concerns. In a recent press release, FSFE warns that "Microsoft's latest operating system, Windows 7, is currently shipping with a potentially serious defect. Ahead of the product's global launch on Thursday, Germany's federal IT security agency (BSI) has issued a warning about a high-risk vulnerability in the SMB2 protocol. This can be exploited over the network to shut down a computer with a Denial of Service (DoS) attack."

EU approves new Microsoft pledges (7.10.2009)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8294587.stm

FSFE to EC: Don't waste an opportunity with a hasty deal (28.09.2009)
http://blogs.fsfe.org/gerloff/?p=263

Antitrust: Commission welcomes new Microsoft proposals on Microsoft Internet Explorer and Interoperability (24.07.2009)
http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=MEMO/09/352

Microsoft browser battle draws to a close (8.10.2009)
http://euobserver.com/9/28798/?rk=1

Microsoft and Europe Near Browser Truce (8.10.2009)
http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/oct2009/gb2009108_963950...

Windows 7 to hit consumers with known security problem (19.10.2009)
http://www.fsfe.org/news/2009/news-20091019-01.en.html

EDRi-gram: Windows 7 is launched without IE, but the Commission is not pleased (17.06.2009)
http://www.edri.org/edri-gram/number7.12/microsoft-europe-ie-windows7