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An association representing users of open source software filed a lawsuit with the European Commission for the alleged obstacles that the operating system presents when trying to install Linux. |
Hispalinux, which has 8.000 members and represents Linux users, reported that Microsoft had made it difficult for users of computers equipped with Windows 8 to switch to Linux and other operating systems.
The lawyer and main representative of Hispalinux, José MarÃa Lancho, sent the claim to the Madrid headquarters of the European Commission.
In its 14-page lawsuit, Hispalinux said that Windows 8 contained a "jamming mechanism" called UEFI Secure Boot that controls computer startup and means that users must ask Microsoft for keys to install another operating system.
The group said in its complaint that it was "de facto a technological jail for computer boot systems (...) making Microsoft's Windows platform less neutral than ever."
"It is absolutely anti-competitive," Lancho told Reuters. "It is very damaging for the user and for the European software industry," he added.
The European Commission has fined Microsoft, a world leader in software, US $ 2.830 billion in the last decade, the highest amount paid by a company to the EU.
The Commission determined in 2004 that Microsoft had abused its dominant market position by linking its Windows Media Player to the Windows application suite, and relations between the two remain tense.
The company has had a friendlier approach in recent years, settling for another competition investigation in 2009 related to the choice of browser on its Windows operating system.
Microsoft has also made its own complaints to the Commission about the business activities of rival Google.
But on March 6, the Commission fined Microsoft $ 731 million for not offering users options to choose a web browser other than Internet Explorer.
Source: Infobae