ProComp backs underdogs in browser wars

Anti-Microsoft trade group, ProComp, has added its support to locked out third-party browser users.

In a letter sent to US Assistant Attorney General Charles James and Iowa State Attorney General Tom Miller, ProComp president Mike Pettit asked both the federal and state agencies to get involved in Microsoft's anti-competitive concerns.

"We make this request to you because we have learned over the past few days of yet a new anti-competitive tactic by Microsoft: an effort to discriminate against non-Microsoft internet browsers by limiting their interoperability with Microsoft-owned websites," Pettit wrote.

The letter further stated that MSN-Japan no longer can be rendered by non-Microsoft browsers, and that at Microsoft's Game Zone website, Netscape users have begun to receive an odd, and self-contradictory, error message."

The Project to Promote Competition & Innovation in the Digital Age, whose members include Microsoft rivals AOL Time Warner and Sun Microsystems, told the government agencies that the MSN rival browser blockage demands an immediate response based on the original antitrust ruling.

The trade group said that since Judge Jackson's interim remedies were stayed, Microsoft has taken repeated anti-competitive actions design to protect and extend its monopoly.

"The latest actions by Microsoft should demonstrate the true character of Microsoft and its breathtaking disregard for software users, and should underscore the need for a tough, comprehensive remedy," Pettit wrote.

He also wrote: "It is non-debatable that US v. Microsoft is far more than just a browser case, contrary to Microsoft's contention. We hope this will lead you to seek the immediate imposition of meaningful interim constraints on Microsoft, as it relates to the browser, other middleware, and other anti-competitive features of Windows XP, until a permanent remedy can be put in place."

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