The antimonopoly dispute between Microsoft and the European Commission is about to escalate. In a press statement released on September 7th Microsoft threatened to again postpone the launch date of Windows Vista ,which is the operating system successor to Windows XP, in Europe as a consequence of continuing objections on part of the European antimonopoly guardians. According to Microsoft such a measure would have serious effects on the whole IT sector and tens of thousands companies in Europe.
Microsoft is apparently backed in this move by four members of the European Parliament who complained at the Commission about the continuing persecution of Microsoft and the resulting risks to the IT sector. However, in general the Commission showed little understanding for Microsoft´s latest move. All that Microsoft has to do is to observe European antitrust laws. The Commission could not be held responsible for a possible delay of the Vista launch.
MittelstandsBlog think: Irrespective of which party will finally prevail in court, such delays will be to the disadvantage of the majority of small and medium-sized entities relying on Windows. However, there are ways against such dependences: a change over to open source software such as Linux instead of Windows. 