Apple next?
Microsoft rival Google was never likely to overlook an opportunity to cause the software giant a bit more misery, so it came as no great surprise when it announced it was offering its assistance to the European Commission(EC) investigation into alleged anti-competitive behaviour by Microsoft.
This investigation was heralded by a Statement of Objections sent by the EC to Microsoft last month expressing concerns about the bundling of web browser Internet Explorer (IE) with Windows and how that affects the competitiveness of the web browser market.
Two weeks ago Mozilla, which makes the Firefox web browser, decided the quest for fairness would be facilitated by its expertise and kindly offered it to the EC. Now Google's conscience and selfless concern for the online consumer has moved it to offer its support to the cause.
The only other browser competitor of note yet to join the party is Apple and that may just be a matter of time, especially since it's just released the latest version of Safari.
Google didn't say anything new in its announcement, restricting itself mainly to just pontification about the importance of competition, innovation, etc. It was posted by product management VP Sundar Pichai and in stating why Google it getting involved he made one vaguely cryptic comment: "Of course creating a remedy that helps solve one problem without creating other unintended consequences isn't easy - but the more voices there are in the conversation the greater the chances of success."
