Still giddy from looting US$1.3 billion from Microsoft, a company that has improved the lives of billions of computer users around the world, EU antitrust bureaucrats have found another vein to bleed. Their most recent gripe: Microsoft has the audacity to include an internet browser with Windows that many consumers are reluctant to give up. Unsurprisingly the antitrust investigation was initiated by one of Microsoft’s competitors, Opera, who can’t win over users through fair competition and so resorts to clubbing Microsoft through the political system. The European Commission and Opera claim bundling Internet Explorer with Windows hurts competition in the browser market.
There is one rather important fact that the EU bureaucrats choose to ignore: there are dozens of free browsers available that only require a few mouse clicks to install. That is your competition, right there. That is more competition than you’ll find in most markets. The fact that 68% of people still use Internet Explorer is not evidence that Microsoft is ‘hurting competition’ but that the majority of people prefer (or are at least satisfied with) Microsoft’s browser.
Some people claim that average computer users are ignorant of the alternatives or don’t have the technical knowledge to switch to a different browser. Now apart from these arguments being irrelevant (it’s not Microsoft’s fault if its competitors don’t advertise enough or make their products accessible), they are also false. It is impossible to spend much time on the internet without seeing a Firefox button and many libraries, universities and businesses make Firefox the default browser. Also, about 32% of people are using non-IE browsers so it is not like the alternatives are obscure. Ironically, antitrust will probably be used on Google at some stage if they start promoting their Chrome browser as an alternative to IE. Installing browsers like Firefox, Chrome or Safari is also extremely simple, requiring only a Google search and two or three clicks.
But the abundance of competition in the browser market won’t deter the EU bureaucrats because they think they know better than consumers. So as long as people stick with Internet Explorer, and Microsoft products in general, the European Commission and Microsoft’s competitors will use antitrust thuggery to try and cripple the company.
What is particularly ridiculous is that bundling of internet browsers with operating systems is a typical practice which is of great convenience to users. Linux comes with Firefox, Mac OS and iPhones come with Safari and Android will soon come with Chrome. The only reason Microsoft is picked on by the antitrust bullies is because it has been extremely successful at selling Windows. I assume what the bureaucrats want is for Microsoft to offer a selection of browsers with its installation. Which of the dozens of browsers must it include? Can it charge a fee from its competitors for distributing their products? Who gets to decide what is fair compensation for Microsoft including other browsers? No doubt the bureaucrats think that they are the best ones to answer these questions rather than the private company they are hijacking. Meanwhile Microsoft has to spend large amounts of money fighting these lawsuits and paying enormous fines to the European Commission rather than investing that money into developing new products that improve peoples’ lives.
For an explanation of how antitrust legislation is more often used to stifle competition than promote it, I recommend Dominick T. Armentano’s short but informative book Antitrust: The Case for Repeal (Amazon).
Frisco said,
January 18, 2009 at 14:57
Europe is a cesspool of things like this; looters, moochers, no one willing to leave it up to free trade and survival of the fittest.
My sympathies go out to Microsoft.