Anti-competitive

Anti-competitive

Since the 1980s, Microsoft has been the focus of much controversy in the computer industry.^[101] The majority of criticism has been for its business tactics, often described with the motto "embrace, extend and extinguish". Microsoft initially embraces a competing standard or product, then extends it to produce their own version which is then incompatible with the standard, which in time extinguishes competition that does not or cannot use Microsoft's new version.^[102] These and other tactics have resulted in lawsuits brought by companies and governments, and billions of dollars in rulings against Microsoft.^{[103][13][45]} In January 2009, Opera Software ASA filed a complaint to the European Commission stating that Microsoft's inclusion of Internet Explorer with Windows-based personal computers is a violation of European competition laws.^[104]