anti-trust posts

Filed under: Microsoft, Mozilla, Browsers

More ballot screen drama; now Mozilla's executives are up in arms

by Adam Maras Aug 20th 2009

Microsoft's struggle with the European Commission's demands regarding browser choice just never seems to end. Today's soap opera episode introduces another main character into the cast: Mozilla. Earlier this week, Harvey Anderson and Mitchell Baker, two highers-up of Mozilla and the Mozilla Foundation, blogged about concerns and issues they had about the fairness of Microsoft's proposed ballot screen.

Mitchell's post outlined how Internet Explorer remained "uniquely privileged" within Windows (no big surprise there) while Harvey argues various points with the technicalities of the design and functionality of the ballot screen concept.

If Mozilla's suggestions are taken into account for the final release of the ballot screen, users may be provided with a more seamless experience at the ballot screen itself, allowing users to not just download their choice of browser immediately, but also immediately install the chosen browser and set it as the default, with minimal or no extra work required on the part of the user. It could also require that Microsoft prevent future Internet Explorer updates from asking to set IE as the default browser.

Mozilla CEO John Lilly explained that these recently expressed viewpoints on browser choice are a part of Mozilla's plan to "get across our point of view," as he puts it. Mozilla is expected to officially voice their concerns to the EC soon, as final word on the ballot screen is expected before the end of October.

Tags: anti-trust, ballot screen, BallotScreen, eu, internet explorer, InternetExplorer, mozilla firefox, MozillaFirefox, windows 7, Windows7

Filed under: Internet, Google, Yahoo!, Search

Google kills Yahoo! ad deal

by Brad Linder Nov 5th 2008

Remember how Yahoo! and Google announced this summer that they would be partnering to place Google AdSense ads next to Yahoo! search results? Yeah, that's not going to happen.

Basically, Google says it's pulling out of the deal because government regulators and "some advertisers" are uncomfortable with the idea. The New York Times puts things a bit more strongly, mentioning that regulators planned to file a lawsuit to block the patnership between two of the largest web search portals.

The deal was first announced back in June, shortly after Microsoft walked away from negotiations to purchase the company. At this point, it's not clear what the future holds for Yahoo!, a company that's clearly looking for ways to revitalize its brand.

Tags: advertising, anti-trust, google, yahoo

Filed under: Business, Internet, Google

EU approves Google, DoubleClick deal

by Brad Linder Mar 11th 2008

European regulators have approved Google's plan to buy online advertising giant DoubleClick. The acquisition, which has been in the works for the better part of a year will solidify Google's dominance in the advertising field. Right now Google makes most of its money through its lucrative contextual advertising system. The DoubleClick acquisition will help Google move into display ads, an area where the company is currently not as strong.

Google competitors including Microsoft, Yahoo! had filed anti-trust complaints, claiming that the deal would give Google an unfair advantage in the online advertising marketplace. But EU regulators basically gave Google a pass and said the deal could go forward as is. Of course, if Microsoft manages to buy Yahoo!, (a company that has been playing hard to get), that might give Microsoft the tools to level the playing field. You know, assuming EU or US regulators don't nix the deal.

Update: According to the Official Google Blog, Google today completed its acquisition of DoubleClick.

[via TechCrunch]

Tags: adsense, advertising, anti-trust, doubleclick, eu, european-union

Filed under: News, Windows, Microsoft

Microsoft to EU: You win, we'll change

by Brad Linder Oct 22nd 2007

After nine years, Microsoft has given up its fight against European Union regulators. Essentially, the EU says Microsoft is a monopoly, and as such should take certain measures to give consumers more options and open up its source code a tiny bit to enable interoperability with third party software.

Microsoft has decided not to appeal the latest EU court ruling, which means the company will fork over $705 million which had been sitting in an escrow account since since the fine was levied in 2004.

Other highlights of the agreement include:

Microsoft will allow third party companies to license non-patented technology to ensure interoperability with Windows
Companies will only have to pay a one-time €10,000 fee for that intellectual property, not an ongoing royalty

In return, the EU is removing its hit from Microsoft's head. In other words, no more fines against the company until the next time it tries to do something incredibly anti-competitive, like (hypothetically) engineering an operating system that plays well with Microsoft Office but not so well with competing software suites like OpenOffice.org.

Tags: anti-trust, antitrust, Europe, European-Union, Microsoft

Filed under: News, Microsoft

EU issues Microsoft $690 million fine in antitrust case

by Brad Linder Sep 17th 2007

There's good news and bad news for Microsoft today. The bad news is that the European Court of First Instance has upheld a 2004 court decision finding Microsoft guilty of violating antitrust laws. The god news is that if anyone can afford a $690 million fine and 80% of court costs, it's Bill Gates. But somehow we doubt he'll see it that way.

The Court upheld portions of the 2004 ruling that ordered Microsoft to share information with other software developers in order to make sure their programs were compatible with Microsoft's operating systems and applications. Microsoft also needs to have a version of Windows that does not come with Windows Media Player pre-loaded.

The Court did throw out one portion of the earlier ruling. A lower court had ruling had established an independent trustee to monitor Microsoft, but the Court of First Instance found this step unnecessary.

Microsoft General Counsel Brad Smith released a statement saying that he is still reviewing the decision. He does say the company will "comply with our obligations under European law," and implies that Microsoft may still appeal today's decision.

Tags: anti-trust, antitrust, europe, windows-media-player

Featured Time Waster

Graveyard Shift - zombie-busting Time Waster

With Halloween fast approaching, it's a great time to get in some practice defending your territory against zombies. In Graveyard Shift, you take aim at zombies and other creepy-crawlies, blasting them into splatters of cartoony green guts. It's a casual first-person shooter, and it's very easy to get the hang of - use the mouse to aim, click to fire. Graveyard Shift has at least 15 levels, and it might even have some secret stages I haven't unlocked yet. They key to getting good at Graveyard Shift is learning to use ...

View more Time Wasters

Featured Galleries

Defective by Design, London: Protest Pictures

Download Squad at the Crunchies After-Party

Android First-look: Amazon.com MP3 Store

Flickr Pool

www.flickr.com

Download Squad bloggers (30 days)

#	Blogger	Posts	Cmts
1	Jay Hathaway	111	6
2	Lee Mathews	76	34
3	Sebastian Anthony	51	163
4	Brad Linder	37	7
5	Jason Clarke	31	0
6	Grant Robertson	8	8
7	Dolores Parker	7	2
8	Victor Agreda, Jr.	7	1
9	Nik Fletcher	3	0
10	Matt Heerema	3	3
11	Paul O'Brien	2	0
12	John Burke	1	0
13	Download Squad Staff	1	0

More Tech Coverage

Control Shift It's all about the experience
Somewhat Frank Perspectives on tech as it fuses in everyday life
Switched Gadgets, web news and commentary
Urlesque Exposing bits of the web