New Browser War: Opera sues Microsoft

December 13, 2007 |

New Browser War: Opera sues Microsoft

By Erna Mahyuni

Opera sues Microsoft Ah, the browser wars. When Netscape took on Internet Explorer…and was buried. But then Firefox came…and Microsoft worried. Now Opera’s decided to haul Microsoft to court in an attempt to break the company’s monopoly on Internet browsers.

From the official Opera site: "We are filing this complaint on behalf of all consumers who are tired of having a monopolist make choices for them," said Jon von Tetzchner, CEO of Opera. "In addition to promoting the free choice of individual consumers, we are a champion of open Web standards and cross-platform innovation. We cannot rest until we’ve brought fair and equitable options to consumers worldwide."

Opera’s filed a complaint with the EU accusing Microsoft of "abusing its dominant position by tying its browser, Internet Explorer, to the Windows operating system and by hindering interoperability by not following accepted Web standards."

Norwegian-based Opera has been around since the late 90s and was the first browser to introduce tabs. Despite success on the mobile front, being a popular choice on smartphones and reaching a deal with Nintendo, Opera’s faded into the background with Firefox capturing more takeup and media attention. But the fact remains that more surfers use IE because, well, it’s there.

I don’t see how Microsoft can ship an OS without a browser so getting them to unpack IE would be hard to justify. It’s the onus on Opera, really, to get people to be more aware of the existence of other browsers besides IE. But making Microsoft give in to the whole premise of web standards and no longer have sites that proclaim to need IE to run would even out the playing field somewhat.

Someday, web designers will be able to design sites without worrying about platform interoperability. And if Opera wins this case, that future might come sooner than realised.