Microsoft files monopoly complaint against Google

Full complaint: <a href="http://blogs.technet.com/b/microsoft_on_the_issues/archive/2011/03/30/adding-our-voice-to-concerns-about-search-in-europe.aspx" rel="nofollow">http://blogs.technet.com/b/microsoft_on_the_issues/archive/2...</a><p>There may be some legitimate claims here -- plenty of mention of where the DOJ has already stopped some anti-competitive behaviour from Google -- but overall it just screams "Google is KILLING us, we can't compete, so obviously there's a monopoly here, so lets legislate instead of innovate."

&#62; Secondly he accused Google of blocking Windows Mobile phones from working properly with YouTube.<p>Hah! I'd love to hear more details about this. Isn't it up to Microsoft to add fucking HTML5 or Flash support to their phones? How is Google doing anything but providing videos and Microsoft refusing to write code that reads those videos?<p>This is the dumbest complaint ever, unless there are some details we're missing...I'm curious. This is just too much, it can't be real.

I've long been against Microsoft's practices, but from what I can tell, they are clearly in the right on this: Google is using it's market power to restrict competition in various ways.<p>This anti-competitive behavior should be stopped, regardless of the irony.<p>It doesn't matter if it's Google, Microsoft, Apple, the NFL, AT&#38;T, IBM, U.S. sugar producers, or a company you haven't heard of yet - if one or more companies are leveraging market power to enter new markets or limit competition in their market, they should be stopped.

Good thing typical small businesses don't rely on software and documents that can only be rendered correctly by Microsoft products anymore. Cuz if that were the case, this suit would be extreme hypocrisy.<p>Sarcasm aside, this doesn't necessarily invalidate the premises of the argument. Even so, I don't see that current Google offerings have anywhere near the lock-in of Microsoft products.

The complaint is that Google has a conflict of interest as it becomes a content provider as well as a search engine, and that it is exploiting this.<p>For other content providers, more search engines indexing their stuff, means more traffic. There is only upside to letting more search engines in.<p>For Google, hobbling other search engines indexing their content is a great way to keep their search engine on top. It's a virtuous circle for them.<p>In a way it's hard to see how they <i>aren't</i> privileging Google search in some way. Does Google Search use a public API to scrape YouTube, or is there some backend integration? If there's integration, doesn't that support Microsoft's claim?

It seems like there's a lot of people commenting here who haven't read the article in full. Some key points of it are that Microsoft isn't filing against Google Search - rather they are complaining that Google is providing meta data to other companies (apple) and are crippling Microsoft's access to it. As a result, Microsoft's Windows Phone and other devices can't build an integrated youtube app on their phone. They claim that Google is doing this because Microsoft is a search competitor.<p>In addition, they are filing numerous complaints against Google's ad networks, and their attempt to have unfettered and exclusive access to orphaned books.<p>Right now, it seems like Microsoft may have a leg to stand on in regards to the youtube metadata control. I'll await google's response to this though before I choose sides, and I'd recommend others wait as well.

I just saw a TV ad for a Windows 7 phone last night that heavily touted integration with Xbox Live.<p>Much in the spirit of Bing &#38; Youtube, I wonder if other mobile devices will be able to integrate just as easily w/ Xbox Live?

Is it really that hard to parse Youtube? These are the guys who made an operat..<p>I can't say it. I can't say Microsoft actually ever made an operating system. The one thing I've noticed with them is that they offer good download speeds. To get all the patches quicker.

Pot. Kettle. Black.

Maybe Brad could tell me why I can't install IE9 on my Windows XP netbook and need to upgrade to Win7? I thought the OS had been decoupled due to Microsoft's OS monopoly. Perhaps I should ask Google.

I bet Google will allow access to even their search index if Microsoft starts blocking all their applications in OS level.

That's obviously an April fool's hoax.<p>I mean Microsoft is bigger and richer than Google, they practically own the desktop OS and enterprise software markets, they won't accuse anyone of anti-trust because they aren't dominating search as well, would they?!

April fools came early this year?

In other news, Pot calls Kettle "black." More at 11.

I heard Microsoft is going to reimburse its engineers who decide to pursue a law degree as it aligns with their internal strategy to have more lawyers than coders by 2015.

Give me a break, if I want to go search I have any choice I want. There is nothing stopping me from using Google, Bing, Yahoo, Duck Duck Go or any other service. That's the beauty of the web, it's open.