Q&A: Opera CEO on antitrust battle against Internet Explorer
Internet browser maker Opera Software of Norway won an early round in its antitrust battle against Microsoft on Friday when the European Commission issued its preliminary finding that Microsoft's inclusion of Internet Explorer …
Context & Ripple Effects
This Q&A lands mid-arc in a two-year campaign: Opera filed its antitrust complaint with the EU in December 2007, Microsoft struck back at the claims within a day, and now the European Commission has issued its preliminary finding that bundling Internet Explorer breaches antitrust rules. The interview captures Opera's CEO arguing the case just as the Commission's position hardens — and as Google's own policy blog begins championing 'user choice' in browsers.
First-order effects
- Microsoft now faces a formal preliminary charge sheet in Europe over IE bundling, forcing it to prepare remedies or concessions rather than dismiss Opera's complaint as a niche grievance.
- Opera gains regulatory leverage far beyond its small market share — its complaint is now effectively the Commission's case, giving the Norwegian browser maker standing it could never buy.
Second-order effects
- Rival browser makers stand to inherit distribution: any mandated choice screen or unbundling lowers the switching cost that kept users on IE, benefiting Chrome, Firefox, and Opera itself — a dynamic Opera had already noted was working in its favor.
- Google's parallel push for 'browser user choice' signals that the remedy debate will be shaped by more than one complainant, complicating Microsoft's ability to frame this as a single-company vendetta.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, default placement becomes a regulated artifact across platforms: OS-level bundling of first-party software turns into a recurring antitrust test case, with the browser-choice mechanism as a template regulators reuse.
- Browser distribution shifts from an OEM/OS privilege toward explicit consumer selection — a structural change whose long-term competitive effects (and whether regulators can enforce meaningful choice) remain genuinely uncertain.
The trend: Regulators are increasingly treating pre-installed defaults rather than price or quality as the antitrust battleground for platform gatekeepers.