In what most people could have probably predicted, the EU has gone after Microsoft again for “monopolistic” actions again. A few years ago it was because they bundled Media Player with Windows. This time it’s Internet Explorer. Why? Because the CEO of Opera Software, makers of the one of the today’s least popular internet browsers, made a formal complaint that Microsoft was abusing its position by including Internet Explorer with Windows.

According to the Opera Software CEO, Jon von Tetzchner:

It’s important that people have a choice of browsers. It’s important that we don’t have one company dominating the browser market.

Is it necessary to point out that people do have a choice of browsers, and that installing a new browser is only a few clicks away? Is it necessary to point out that Internet Explorer has been leaking market share to Firefox (my personal choice) and other browsers? Is it necessary to point out that in Europe that market share was down to 59%? Since when does 59% of market-share constitute a monopoly in Europe?

The answers to these questions don’t get at the fundamental issue, which is the right to own property. Computer programmers should have — and must have — the right to write software programs as they see fit, to write software with whom they choose, and to charge whatever they want, and this ruling is an attack on that basic right. Still, those questions and their answers show just how ridiculous this EU prosecution is and how petty Jon von Tetzchner and Opera must be for even filing their ruling. Because even after the EU levies millions in fines and forces Microsoft to make another crippled version of Windows, nobody’s still going to know what Opera is nor are they going to go to the trouble of installing it. The Opera browser just doesn’t offer what the others offer (especially Firefox), which their stagnant and almost non-existent market share shows.

Jon von Tetzchner and Opera are probably going to be successful in using the EU to hurt Microsoft in a way they could never do in the free market, and I bet they’ll get away with it, too. The best way to stop these types of government abuse is to stand for individual rights and petition the government not to involve themselves, but in the meantime I’m going to suggest a smaller step: Uninstall Opera. You probably don’t have it installed, anyway, but in case you do, drop it like a bad habit. I just did. It’s not going to help Microsoft, but it might make you feel a little better.