Random Thoughts of Mine...

Microsoft fans call for Opera boycott
Don't pick on little ol' Redmond Windows enthusiast site JCXP.net is asking fellow fans to delete the Opera web browser from PCs and devices in an act of solidarity against European antitrust action. "Today we are proposing a complete boycott of all Opera software," David Taraso, editor of the JCXP group, wrote in a blog post late on Friday. Taraso blames Opera Software for goading European regulators into a regulatory showdown with Microsoft. The European Commission filed antitrust charges in January alleging Microsoft unfairly stifles competition by bundling Internet Explorer with Windows. The investigation was spurred by a 2007 complaint from Opera Software, maker of a rival web browser and long-time outspoken critic of Microsoft's dominance. Although the lawsuit was later joined by Google and Mozilla, Taraso blames Opera as the instigator. The plot thickened in the EU case on Thursday, when Microsoft said it would ship the upcoming Windows 7 operating system in Europe without Internet Explorer, in an apparent attempt to preempt antitrust measures. The EU hastily rejected Microsoft's response as inadequate, with Opera jeering at the sidelines. "This is absolutely nothing more than a company who can't legitimately gain market share trying to squeeze their unpopular browser onto Windows systems," Taraso wrote. "Opera is simply upset because their browser is dead last in market share, and has already been surpassed by the recent released Google Chrome browser and Apple's Safari browser for Windows."