POT CALLING KETTLE BLACK

Microsoft is apparently filing an anti-competition complaint against Google at the European Commission, the body charged under E.U. law with keeping the internal market competitive. Google has allegedly used its dominant position in the search engine market to make life difficult for Microsoft's alternative, Bing.

This is, to put it mildly, somewhat ironic. After destroying Netscape's Navigator browser with its own Internet Explorer brand, Microsoft spent most of the late 1990's and early noughties fighting the Commission over other supposedly anti-competitive practices, notably the way its media player was automatically bundled into its Windows operating system. In March 2004, the Commission levied a fine on Microsoft of Euro497million, at the time the largest ever made, a decision that was upheld by the courts some three years later.

Against that background, and noting that today is April Fool's Day, I originally thought that the report was a joke. Apparently not. The old arch-monopolist must really be under pressure from the new arch-monopolist.

Walter Blotscher