Microsoft rings in the new year…with new antitrust probes. While Intel is being scrutinized by New York’s anti-monopoly experts, Microsoft faces two European Commission investigations. The gist of it revolves around the accusation that the company is violating monopoly laws.

According to the Reuters report, the European Committee for Interoperable Systems (ECIS) has filed a complaint against the software giant, leading to the EC’s decision to examine Microsoft’s business practices. According to the EC, "The initiation of proceedings does not imply that the Commission has proof of an infringement. It only signifies that the Commission will further investigate the case as a matter of priority."

What is the basis of the complaint? Nothing new here- mainly Microsoft products’ lack of interoperability as well as the bundling of the Internet Explorer Web browser. Opera, also a member of ECIS, has filed its complaint against Microsoft on the basis of IE’s inclusion with their operating systems.  Said an ECIS spokesman, "Microsoft continues to use its desktop monopolies to restrict competition."

Microsoft has already pledged to cooperate with the EC in the latest investigations but will this lead to a change of Microsoft’s business practices? Proprietary formats have been part and parcel of the software industry for a long time and Microsoft could argue that the work needed to ensure complete interoperability would be difficult. Unless of course, Microsoft agrees to disclosure of its operating system code. The odds don’t seem good in that respect – instead of complying with the ODF document standard, for instance, Microsoft tried to push its own competing format – OOXML. Predictions for 2008? This won’t be the last EU investigation if ECIS and the rest of the team has anything to say about it.

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Entry was posted on Monday, January 14th, 2008 at 11:04 pm under Microsoft.

Read more entries by Erna Mahyuni.
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