Opera sues Microsoft
Monday, 17. December 2007, 14:51:16
There have been some discussions on the Web about this:
http://www.opera.com/pressreleases/en/2007/12/13/
I've seen a lot of bad comments so far like my friend Simone (.Net developer mostly) on his blog here:
http://codeclimber.net.nz/archive/2007/12/17/Sick-of-Opera.aspx
Or Asa (from Mozilla corp.) here:
http://weblogs.mozillazine.org/asa/archives/2007/12/opera_calls_for.html
I've got mixed ideas. First of all this is a never ending issue about Microsoft being so dominant on the software market that they can make the rules and there isn't any real "competitor", other software makers can either play by Microsoft rules or live in the little thiny spaces Microsoft hasn't colonized yet. Once upon a time there was Netscape and Java then Microsoft finally decided Internet and Web Applications/Services could be real business so they first integrated Internet Explorer in the operating system to crush Netscape then developed the .Net technology to crush Java. There have been some years when all the developers thought there was no point in considering anything else but Microsoft as standard, till from the ashes of Netscape resurrected Phoenix now called Firefox, backed by a big player like Google. People at Google so far tried their best to not confront Microsoft directly, yet Microsoft launched MSN with search engine and the "Live" services that mimic Google main business. Everybody knows about the EU ordering Microsoft to separate their Media Player from the O.S. but that came when the war about multimedia/video players was already almost over. Who thinks Real Player can be a competitor now? Adobe with Flash and related technologies on the RIA applications are "doubled" by SilverLight. I don't know if Adobe sees Microsoft as a competitor or what, given they have exaclty the same business model based on license fees. Opera's action to me seems just another round. Since I don't make a living on Microsoft products or related business, I welcome what ever initiative that potentially can make things better for the whole IT and ultimately for the users. The only flaw I can see here is that nothing could stop Microsoft so far either make them change their course of actions, so I guess the whole thing is a little pointless. Opera has got less than 1% of the browsers "market", it is extremely improbable they can get much more than some sort of agreement by sueing Microsoft. When AOL acquired Netscape they sued MS, then agreed for some million dollars and quit Netscape. If we consider the million developers who work on Microsoft technologies, they see Opera mostly like a pain in the ass, so no support can come from that direction. The Open Source world is too busy in their own internal civil wars and watching their bellybuttons to make any difference.
Time will tell. In my opinion it isn't time any more for David against Goliath, so I am not positive. Mostly because Opera doens't have any support out of its own small community of fans. Besides, I guess even the Web in itself is changing and so is the "browser" concept.
http://www.opera.com/pressreleases/en/2007/12/13/
I've seen a lot of bad comments so far like my friend Simone (.Net developer mostly) on his blog here:
http://codeclimber.net.nz/archive/2007/12/17/Sick-of-Opera.aspx
Or Asa (from Mozilla corp.) here:
http://weblogs.mozillazine.org/asa/archives/2007/12/opera_calls_for.html
I've got mixed ideas. First of all this is a never ending issue about Microsoft being so dominant on the software market that they can make the rules and there isn't any real "competitor", other software makers can either play by Microsoft rules or live in the little thiny spaces Microsoft hasn't colonized yet. Once upon a time there was Netscape and Java then Microsoft finally decided Internet and Web Applications/Services could be real business so they first integrated Internet Explorer in the operating system to crush Netscape then developed the .Net technology to crush Java. There have been some years when all the developers thought there was no point in considering anything else but Microsoft as standard, till from the ashes of Netscape resurrected Phoenix now called Firefox, backed by a big player like Google. People at Google so far tried their best to not confront Microsoft directly, yet Microsoft launched MSN with search engine and the "Live" services that mimic Google main business. Everybody knows about the EU ordering Microsoft to separate their Media Player from the O.S. but that came when the war about multimedia/video players was already almost over. Who thinks Real Player can be a competitor now? Adobe with Flash and related technologies on the RIA applications are "doubled" by SilverLight. I don't know if Adobe sees Microsoft as a competitor or what, given they have exaclty the same business model based on license fees. Opera's action to me seems just another round. Since I don't make a living on Microsoft products or related business, I welcome what ever initiative that potentially can make things better for the whole IT and ultimately for the users. The only flaw I can see here is that nothing could stop Microsoft so far either make them change their course of actions, so I guess the whole thing is a little pointless. Opera has got less than 1% of the browsers "market", it is extremely improbable they can get much more than some sort of agreement by sueing Microsoft. When AOL acquired Netscape they sued MS, then agreed for some million dollars and quit Netscape. If we consider the million developers who work on Microsoft technologies, they see Opera mostly like a pain in the ass, so no support can come from that direction. The Open Source world is too busy in their own internal civil wars and watching their bellybuttons to make any difference.
Time will tell. In my opinion it isn't time any more for David against Goliath, so I am not positive. Mostly because Opera doens't have any support out of its own small community of fans. Besides, I guess even the Web in itself is changing and so is the "browser" concept.
