Questions and Answers: Hakon Wium Lie on Microsoft's antitrust complaint
In addition to the Haavard answers, the Hakon View Li replies to css3.info, read the translation of Todd Bishop’s conversation with View Lee on the same topic. Todd Bishop has a blog about Microsoft.
Q: When last year I spoke with Jon von Tetchner (Opera CEO), he said that at that time Opera had no plans to sue Microsoft. What changed?
Wium Lie: I do not know in what context Jon made this statement, but we naturally thought about it. We waited until a decision was made on another lawsuit, and, as you probably know, the decision on the case of the Real media player was made in September. This, of course, influenced our decision. Another factor was the situation in the browser world. The importance of the browser as a means of accessing the most diverse information is greater than ever and we believe that the consumer should have a real choice between alternative browsers, but this is very difficult to achieve with such close integration of Windows and IE.
Q: You mentioned the RealNetworks case, which resulted in Microsoft’s requirement to sell a version of Windows in Europe without a Media Player. Do you see in this decision a precedent that could be applied to browsers?
Wium Lie: Well, we certainly see a precedent that such tight integration is illegal. As for the countermeasures chosen in that case, I am not sure of their effectiveness, I believe that it was possible to choose the best ones. We also draw attention to another aspect related to web standards - that Microsoft does not support web standards at the proper level and thus creates problems for competitors trying to maintain these standards.
Q: What is the alternative solution you offer?
Wium Lie: In our application, we present several options. Firstly, this is the separation of IE, perhaps with a difference in price. I think one of the reasons for the low efficiency of the chosen solution in the media player case is that there was no difference between the price of the Windows version with and without the media player. It is clear that the development of a media player costs money and it is quite natural that there should be a difference in price. Another option is that instead of removing something, you could add several other browsers, thus giving users a real choice, putting them in front of their eyes.
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Q: Will you ask for IE withdrawals from all versions of Windows, not just providing a separate version without IE?
Wium Lie: We have not yet fully decided on the options for countermeasures, we are not talking about anything like that. Naturally, browsers are very important for users and that a computer without a browser is not very useful. So people need browsers, and we have to give them to them. We must give them a choice, a real choice, and not deprive them of it.
Q: In some blogs this morning, it was possible to read that this, they say, is not a reaction to Microsoft’s actions, but Opera’s inability to compete in the market. How would you comment on this?
Wium Lie: We are a very successful company. Since 1995, we have grown to 400 people, with only one product - the browser. We produce browsers for a variety of devices: phones, game consoles, personal computers. And we do it well, but just for Windows PCs it turned out to be very difficult and we consider that this is unreasonable. We do not think that 80% of people use IE because it is so good. We do not think that IE is a good browser. We think that we could compete with him, we want the opportunity to honestly compete with him.
Q: Isn't this an attempt to attract attention?
Wium Lie: No, really, no. Of course, when we make such a statement, we also want to explain to the world why we are doing it. For us, this is a chance to talk about what is dear and not indifferent to us - about web standards. But this, of course, is not the main motive. We want equal opportunities for competition.
Translation done by rojer . I brought him karma, and you?
Q: When last year I spoke with Jon von Tetchner (Opera CEO), he said that at that time Opera had no plans to sue Microsoft. What changed?
Wium Lie: I do not know in what context Jon made this statement, but we naturally thought about it. We waited until a decision was made on another lawsuit, and, as you probably know, the decision on the case of the Real media player was made in September. This, of course, influenced our decision. Another factor was the situation in the browser world. The importance of the browser as a means of accessing the most diverse information is greater than ever and we believe that the consumer should have a real choice between alternative browsers, but this is very difficult to achieve with such close integration of Windows and IE.
Q: You mentioned the RealNetworks case, which resulted in Microsoft’s requirement to sell a version of Windows in Europe without a Media Player. Do you see in this decision a precedent that could be applied to browsers?
Wium Lie: Well, we certainly see a precedent that such tight integration is illegal. As for the countermeasures chosen in that case, I am not sure of their effectiveness, I believe that it was possible to choose the best ones. We also draw attention to another aspect related to web standards - that Microsoft does not support web standards at the proper level and thus creates problems for competitors trying to maintain these standards.
Q: What is the alternative solution you offer?
Wium Lie: In our application, we present several options. Firstly, this is the separation of IE, perhaps with a difference in price. I think one of the reasons for the low efficiency of the chosen solution in the media player case is that there was no difference between the price of the Windows version with and without the media player. It is clear that the development of a media player costs money and it is quite natural that there should be a difference in price. Another option is that instead of removing something, you could add several other browsers, thus giving users a real choice, putting them in front of their eyes.
')
Q: Will you ask for IE withdrawals from all versions of Windows, not just providing a separate version without IE?
Wium Lie: We have not yet fully decided on the options for countermeasures, we are not talking about anything like that. Naturally, browsers are very important for users and that a computer without a browser is not very useful. So people need browsers, and we have to give them to them. We must give them a choice, a real choice, and not deprive them of it.
Q: In some blogs this morning, it was possible to read that this, they say, is not a reaction to Microsoft’s actions, but Opera’s inability to compete in the market. How would you comment on this?
Wium Lie: We are a very successful company. Since 1995, we have grown to 400 people, with only one product - the browser. We produce browsers for a variety of devices: phones, game consoles, personal computers. And we do it well, but just for Windows PCs it turned out to be very difficult and we consider that this is unreasonable. We do not think that 80% of people use IE because it is so good. We do not think that IE is a good browser. We think that we could compete with him, we want the opportunity to honestly compete with him.
Q: Isn't this an attempt to attract attention?
Wium Lie: No, really, no. Of course, when we make such a statement, we also want to explain to the world why we are doing it. For us, this is a chance to talk about what is dear and not indifferent to us - about web standards. But this, of course, is not the main motive. We want equal opportunities for competition.
Translation done by rojer . I brought him karma, and you?
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/17693/
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