Google said it wants to help the European Commission prove
its antitrust charges against Microsoft regarding the bundling of
the Internet Explorer browser with Windows.
In early January, the European Commission sent a Statement of
Objections to Microsoft that said the bundling of the browser
"undermines product innovation, and ultimately reduces consumer
choice." The search giant wants to become a third party in the
proceedings, which would give it access to confidential documents,
as well as have a voice for a potential remedy.
"Google believes that the browser market is still largely
uncompetitive, which holds back innovation for users," Google wrote
on its blog. "This is because Internet Explorer is tied to
Microsoft's dominant computer operating system, giving it an unfair
advantage over other browsers. Compare this to the mobile market,
where Microsoft cannot tie Internet Explorer to a dominant
operating system, and its browser therefore has a much lower
usage."
The European Commission could eventually require Microsoft to
distribute Windows in the European Union without Internet Explorer,
or offer an installation screen that gives consumers a choice of
which browser to install. Google is hoping this could potentially
create room for its relatively new Chrome browser.
Even though it's bundled with the most popular computer
operating system in the world, Internet Explorer has been steadily
losing market share. It still retains about 70% of the market, but
Mozilla's Firefox has surpassed 20% for the first time, and Apple's
Safari is above 7%.
Mozilla has also asked for third-party access to the
proceedings, and it was recently granted.
"Microsoft's business practices have fundamentally diminished
(in fact, came very close to eliminating) competition, choice, and
innovation in how people access the Internet," said Mitchell Baker,
Mozilla's chair, in a blog post.
If you haven't seen Chrome in action yet, take a spin through
our Google Chrome image gallery and have a look at the browser
that's being touted as a game-changer.