Passage 4 In E.U. Deal, Microsoft Allows Rival Browsers
微軟痛失瀏覽器壟斷地位 《時(shí)代周刊》
[00:01]Once upon a time, Microsoft got on the back of the software world
[00:07]like a ruthless cartoon villain, gobbling up rivals and defying pleas
[00:14]for restraint from regulators. But the once impregnable giant
[00:21]has now been humbled: following a bitter 10-year antitrust battle
[00:28]with European regulators, Microsoft on Dec. 16 finally agreed to
[00:36]open its Windows operating system to rival Web browsers in Europe.
[00:44]Starting in March, people who use the Microsoft system Windows 7, XP
[00:52]or Vista in Europe will be offered a choice of 12 different search engines,
[01:00]rather than just the already installed Microsoft browser, Internet Explorer.
[01:08]The company will also allow computer makers to set any browser as default,
[01:16]not just Explorer.
[01:18]While it may seem a trivial issue to allow rivals like Mozilla Firefox
[01:27]and Apple Safari to put their icons on Microsoft screens,
[01:33]the concession could signal the end of the company's domination of
[01:40]the browser market. Until now, Microsoft has used its near monopoly
[01:48]in operating systems to impose Explorer on Windows users
[01:55]despite the fact that the browser is widely laughed at
[02:00]by computer experts and everyday users alike as being clumsy.
[02:08]Critics say this brutal marketing strategy explains
[02:12]why Explorer accounts for about 64% of global Internet traffic,
[02:20]followed by Firefox at 25% and Safari and Google Chrome at 4% apiece,
[02:30]according to Web-analytics company Net Applications.
[02:35]OpenForum Europe (OFE), a nonprofit lobbying group
[02:42]advocating open-source software, says Microsoft's tactics have also choked
[02:49]the browser market, making innovation difficult.
[02:54]But this could change now that Microsoft's competitors
[02:59]will have greater access to consumers.
[03:03]New features and applications are always being introduced
[03:09]in the mobile-computing market, for example,
[03:14]where no dominant operating system exists. "With real browser choice,
[03:21]we expect innovation to take off," says Graham Taylor,
[03:26]the chief executive of OFE.
[03:31]Microsoft's move came as part of a legal settlement
[03:35]with the European Commission after a decade of fights
[03:40]with the E.U.'s antitrust authority. Neelie Kroes,
[03:46]the E.U. competition commissioner,
[03:49]says Microsoft's previous approach denied consumers a fair choice.
[03:57]"It is as if you went to the supermarket
[04:01]and they only offered you one brand of shampoo on the shelf,
[04:06]and all the other choices are hidden out the back," Kroes said.
[04:12]"What we are saying today is that all the brands should be on the shelf."
[04:19]The settlement won't have a direct effect on the U.S. market,
[04:24]although it could lead to increased pressure on the company
[04:30]to open its systems to rivals there too.
[04:35]Microsoft has always insisted that people had a choice of browsers.
[04:42]The company says that with the settlement,
[04:46]European Windows users will now simply be more aware of their options.
[04:53]"They're all used today, so that doesn't really change,"
[04:59]says Brad Smith, Microsoft's senior vice president
[05:04]and general counsel in Redmond, Wash.
[05:08]But rivals are hailing the deal as a turning point for the industry.
[05:15]"I think this settlement has the potential to change the status quo,"
[05:22]says Sundar Pichai, head of Google's Chrome browser team.
[05:29]"Most consumers in the past have chosen Internet Explorer
[05:35]because it came on their computers.
[05:38]Now the decision will be made on the merits."
