Saturday, 17 Jan, 2009 Current Events

The number one software developer in the world, Microsoft, has once again been accused by the European Commission, which states that the company violated the rules of competition by tying its Internet Explorer web browser to the popular Windows operating system, developed by the same Microsoft.

According to the commission, it achieved a preliminary view that the American software company had violated the rules of the EU and undercut consumer choice. It is worth mentioning that for many years the European Union together with Microsoft were involved in legal battles. For instance, in 2008 the software giant was fined by the European Union by 899 million euros, which is about $1.4 billion for anticompetitive behavior, reports BBC News.

On January 16, the Commission issued a statement in which it said: "Microsoft's tying of Internet Explorer to the Windows operating system harms competition between web browsers, undermines product innovation and ultimately reduces consumer choice."

The EU has given the software company 8 weeks to reply. Currently Microsoft controls the biggest share of the web-browsing market with its Internet Explorer web browser.

According to the analysts, Microsoft has greatly diversified and it is no longer dependent on its Windows operating system. The revenue mainly comes to the company from sales of its Xbox and server software.