European Commission’s Microsoft Hearings – Statement on Windows Media Player issue
Statement from Jonathan Zuck, President ACT
If the inclusion of Media Player in Windows is blocking competition, how did Apple’s iTunes grow so quickly that the French government is now trying to limit its market dominance?
The Commission’s Decision on Media Player looks more ridiculous with every passing day. In fact, Macromedia’s Flash, a technology ignored by the Commission despite being installed on more the 90% of desktops, is quickly becoming the standard for streaming media on the Internet. MySpace, the fastest growing site on the internet, and many others now use Flash exclusively for video and audio content.
The larger problem, however, is that the Commission’s decision creates a bad precedent that jeopardizes the addition of new functionality to any successful product, regardless of consumer interests.
Despite consumer and developer demands, this regulatory regime will make it nearly impossible for Microsoft to add new security features to Windows. The European Commission is focusing on Media Player as an application, but forcing Microsoft to take the entire Media Player technology out of Windows will remove a safety net for independent software developers.
Statement from Laurent Ruessmann, Counsel to ACT
We believe that the Commission decision to require Microsoft to unbundle Media Player from Windows operating system will cause needless harm to consumers and software developers, and endanger the future of innovation across all industries.
In particular, the Commission’s decision is fatally flawed because:
1. There is no demand for operating systems without media functionality
While it is true that media players are available separately, all modern operating systems include media functionality: media functionality is simply an improvement and development of an operating system. End-consumers, independent software vendors and service providers expect media functionality to be integrated into operating systems for their benefit. The Commission’s case on separate products is an artificial attempt to create a separate product, and it produces an outcome divorced from market reality.
2. Including Windows Media Player in the Windows operating system does not restrict consumer choice
Integrating media functionality into the operating system does not restrict a user from installing other media players and using them in preference to Windows Media Player: media players are typically available for free and they take up a trival amount of memory. .
3. Content providers can and do encode in multiple media player formats
Encoding in multiple media player formats is both common and technically easy. This undermines the Commission’s arguments on incentives to standardise, and its conclusion about foreclosure of the media player market.
4. An integrated media player is beneficial to consumers
The Commission has relied repeatedly on the US proceedings in support of its case. But code removal was a remedy considered and explicitly rejected, because of the consumer benefits, by the US Courts.