Digital Home Thoughts: PC World: EU Warns Microsoft Over Vista Features

"The European Commission has specific antitrust concerns about Vista, Microsoft's long-awaited new operating system, commission spokesperson Jonathan Todd said today. "We are concerned about the possibility that Vista will include software elements which are available separately either sold by Microsoft or by other software companies," Todd said. "There is also the possibility that we won't have all the technical information needed for competitors to make their software interoperable with Vista," he added. Microsoft's top lawyer in Europe, Horacio Guttierez, said in a telephone interview today that adding such functions to the operating system is essential if Microsoft is to meet customer demand. "I know consumers want more-secure computer systems," he said."

I'm sure that when the EU Commission started their investigations into Microsoft a few years ago, they had good reason to - Microsoft was tried and convicted in the US courts of monopolistic behaviour in the '90s. But I have to wonder if the ongoing spar between the Commission and Microsoft hasn't gotten out of hand - they seem to be lining up to try and block the addition of Windows Defender into Windows Vista. As much as I can appreciate how nervous anti-spyware software developers are right now at the thought of Windows Defender embedded in every shipping copy of Windows Vista, I have to weigh that against the massive damage, frustration, and loss of data/identity that spyware/malware causes every day across the world - and I definitely want to see Windows Vista come, right out of the box, ready to help defend customers against those problems. What the EU Commission is doing doesn't seem to be to the benefit of consumers. What's your take on this?