A coalition of the world’s largest technology companies filed a complaint with the European Commission yesterday, accusing Microsoft of engaging in anti-competitive practices.
The alliance, known as the European Committee for Interoperable Systems (ECIS), includes major players such as IBM, Nokia, Oracle, RealNetworks, Red Hat, Sun Microsystems, Corel, and Opera. They have officially submitted complaints regarding a range of existing and upcoming Microsoft products to the European Commission, specifically citing the Office suite and the forthcoming Windows Vista operating system.
A specific example highlighted in the complaint is Microsoft’s refusal to provide information that would allow competitors to develop products compatible with Office. Notably, Microsoft has declined to share data on file formats such as “.doc, .xls, and .ppt”. This has resulted in application suites like OpenOffice and StarOffice being unable to achieve full compatibility with MS Office.
ECIS is urging the Commission to take concrete actions to end Microsoft’s anti-competitive behaviors, which they believe threaten the genuine choices available to individual and business users. Microsoft’s actions are seen as reinforcing their monopoly position and expanding their market dominance across a range of existing and upcoming products.
Although ECIS’s complaint is entirely separate from the European Commission’s antitrust case against Microsoft, the association maintains that their complaints are related to the findings from the 2004 case.
In contrast, Microsoft has dismissed ECIS’s accusations, asserting that the company is introducing new products that benefit users, particularly groundbreaking technologies like Office 12 and Vista.
ECIS represents a front where our competitors aim to leverage legal tools to enhance their business advantages. When faced with new innovations, they resort to legal measures.
Microsoft stated that they are prepared to provide information as quickly and comprehensively as possible to the Commission if requested for feedback on the aforementioned complaints.
Commission spokesperson Neelie Kroes indicated that the Commission is currently reviewing these complaints carefully.
