A group of technology companies including IBM, Sun, Oracle and
Nokia has joined the European Commission's case against Microsoft
for anti-competitive practices.
The European
Committee for Interoperable Systems (ECIS) group announced
yesterday that it had been accepted as a complainant in the case
along with Google and the Mozilla Foundation.
ECIS said it supports the EC's preliminary findings that
Microsoft is violating EU anti-trust law by tying its Internet
Explorer (IE) web browser to its Windows operating system.
The EC investigation followed a
complaint by Norwegian browser developer and ECIS member, Opera
Software, that other browsers cannot compete with IE because of its
bundling with Windows.
In 2004, the EC was successful in its
monopoly abuse case against Microsoft for linking its media
player to Windows, fining the software-maker £497m.
ECIS said that by tying IE to Windows and making internet
applications and content dependent on other proprietary
technologies, Microsoft is seeking to become the gatekeeper to the
internet.
The group's members want to curb Microsoft's dominance as key
business, e-commerce, public service and social networking
applications move to the internet.
ECIS spokesman Thomas Vinje said the case is important to ensure
that browsers can compete on the merits and that consumers have a
choice in the software they use to access the internet.
"Smaller, more innovative browser developers need a level
playing field. That is why there is such broad support for the
commission's preliminary findings of abuse," he said.
The EC issued a statement of objection to Microsoft in January
and has given the software producer until the end of April to
respond.