Opera and the anti-trust case
First of all, this is my blog where I vent my own opinion. I’m not impartial, nor am I a judge, jury, or anything else on that kind. Having said that, if you don’t agree with me, that’s fine. If you do, that also fine. :)
The anti-trust case was started by Opera simply because they lack the market share and are now trying to get a competitive edge by letting their browser be included in the world’s most popular operating system. The question that this will raise: “Is this fair?”
Microsoft worked hard on Windows 7, Internet Explorer 8, and all other software that goes with it. (Media player, Media center, etc.) They invested millions into these products. Anyone who’s willing to buy this will have a secure, reliable, piece of software and once a bug is discovered which compromises security even the slightest, everything is done to plug the hole as soon as possible.
If I install any well-known Linux distribution on my PC, does it come with a browser? Sure it does. Does it come with Internet Explorer? Of course not. Embedding closed-source apps into a open-source OS would cause a small revolution here and there, but besides that, Microsoft does not allow it. Their licensing agreement does not allow you to simply install their browser on any other platform than the ones they say it may be installed on. Even several Windows versions do not meet this criteria. For example: Windows 200, Windows 9x/Me and Windows NT can only be used with IE6 and lower. IE7 and higher are not working on those operating systems.
So there’s no competition for Internet Explorer between Windows and Linux. Since there is an Opera version for Mac OS X, Linux, FreeBSD, Solaris, QNX, OS/2 and what-have-you even BeOS, they should have plenty of market share to go on, right?
But this still doesn’t answer the question: “Is this fair?”
Microsoft is willing to strip-out it’s browser of Windows for the European market, the so-called “E” edition. That means: deliver Windows without any browser. How you’re going to get a browser if you don’t have a browser? The consumers will be hard-hit with this, and OEMs will be eventually making the choice to install the browser for the customer, which is (you guessed it) probably Internet Explorer anyway. This will lead to higher costs and even frustration on the end-user’s behalf. Not a good thing. It’s even worst, because the “E” Edition will be the only edition that will be available in the European market.
Does this help Opera? Or will it help other browsers, like Chrome, FireFox, etc? Guess 3 times. The average home user doesn’t give a damn which browser they use, as long as it works. Businesses care about 3 things though: “Can it be managed?”, “Does it work with the solutions I use?” and “Is it safe?”
All browsers claim to be “the safest”, “the fastest”, and so on, and Opera is no exception in this case. Clearly this is where Apple has a lot to learn, since Safari seems to be the easiest browser to hack yet. But this is besides the point of this article. Fact of the matter is, most business applications were historically built for Internet Explorer. I can remember the phrase “IE Only” like it was told yesterday. These days web standards become better implemented and the differences between browsers gets less and less, but still, there are differences.
Most businesses will not change easily from IE6 to IE7, or from IE7 even to IE8. But they certainly won’t change that easy from IE to FireFox or … Opera? I can hear the manager saying: “But isn’t that that lady on TV?” Businesses will simply say: “I have better use for my time” and will not give it any more thought.
Home users? They will stay with what they find best working for their daily activities. If that means Internet Explorer, they might as well stick with it.
But this still doesn’t answer the question: “Is this fair?”
OK. Now back to the real heart of the issue. IS THIS FAIR? To force Microsoft to include Opera into Windows 7. No it is NOT. Several reasons:
Windows is Microsoft’s property, they decide what they want to do with it. If they want to include someone else’s products, fine, if not, then not. It should be their decision, not anyone else’s.
Including other company’s software in your own products can have huge implications. If a security leak is detected in Opera, who must fix it? Opera? Microsoft? You would say “Opera of course”, but wasn’t Microsoft who delivered that browser in the first place? This leads to confusion, problems and ultimately a bad reputation.
Internet Explorer is also Microsoft’s property. Why may they not include it in Windows for free? Ah, but the EU says, you’re charging for this in the Windows license fee. So even if they do, make it worst. Pay the same price and get less for your money. I can bet that Windows will not be any cheaper.
My conclusion is that Opera kind of ruined it for everyone in Europe. They started out to gain market share, and they probably made the end-user experience a lot more problematic and will probably not gain much in the end. That together with people now paying more for the same machine for the extra work that’s involved.
Way to go Opera!
Monday, June 15, 2009 2:51:27 PM (Pacific SA Standard Time, UTC-04:00) 
Opinions