Only Microsoft's own software, such as Office and IE, get to use Win32 on Windows RT.
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Windows RT, though, permits third-party software to use only the WinRT API. But with Windows RT, it gives those privileges only to its own software.Ĭonventional Windows permits two flavors of software: "classic" apps that use the Win32 API and new "Metro-style" apps that use the new WinRT API for the new Metro interface. With conventional Windows, including the upcoming Windows 8, Microsoft gives all software access to lower-level application programming interfaces, or APIs. Microsoft is taking a very different approach to programming when it comes to Windows RT. "If I were Mozilla and had a real concern, I would raise a complaint to the DOJ to see if you can get them interested," Grosberg said "It's sort of a low-cost, low-risk option."
The Justice Department declined to comment for this story, and the European Commission's competitiveness office didn't respond to requests for comment. Senate Judiciary Committee staff will scrutinize the situation, according to an aide for Herb Kohl, a Democrat from Wisconsin who's chairman of its antitrust subcommittee. A Senate antitrust committee is looking into the Windows RT restrictions, for example. That doesn't mean Microsoft needn't worry. The pane points of Microsoft's 'one Windows'Īnd given Microsoft's stance that its approach makes for a better Windows RT customer experience, "there's an argument to be made that Microsoft offering an improved offering in mobile is pro-competitive.".Windows 10 arriving - here's a look at 30 years of Windows.Microsoft pulls the plug on its last Windows RT tablet.Microsoft's Surface 3: Stuck in the middle between work and play?."If you're on a different processor system, it seems Windows' dominance in this realm is far from assured," said Parker Erkmann, who handles antitrust cases at law firm Dow Lohnes and previously worked at the U.S. For tablets, Windows has yet to achieve even Android's underdog status. Its ARM-based iPad dominates the tablet market, with strong sales, an established App Store, and countless developers writing software for it. There's another big difference from the 1990s: Apple. Given that an antitrust suit wouldn't be easy, swift, or certain, perhaps it's wise to see if publicity gets the desired results - especially if Mozilla can rally to its own cause the developers that Microsoft values so much. The non-profit organization, whose mission is to keep the Web open, said it's relying on non-legal pressure for now. But in practice, it really is different - indeed, it's conceivable that customers will shun it because they don't want software hobbled by the same constraints Mozilla finds so chafing. Mozilla argues that Windows RT is just Windows - the latest in a long line of Microsoft operating systems for PCs with a graphical interface. "If Mozilla is still able to sell to 80 percent of desktop market, it seems like a tough antitrust case." "To bring a monopoly claim, not only would you have to show that Microsoft does have power, but also that it's foreclosing a significant portion of the market," said Joel Grosberg, an attorney at McDermott Will & Emery who previously was an antitrust lawyer with the U.S. Microsoft's present rules would hobble non-IE browsers on Windows RT, but the company's market power is with Windows on x86 chips.ĪRM chips dominate today's smartphone and tablet devices running Apple's iOS, Google's Android, and Microsoft's Windows Phone 7.x, but they're very much unproven when it comes to running the version of Windows for PCs. That's because Windows RT, the version of the operating system geared for devices using ARM processors, is a different beast than conventional Windows running on traditional x86 processors. It's a good thing legal action is Mozilla's "last resort" for resolving its disagreement with Microsoft over bringing Firefox to the upcoming Windows RT, because it's likely a difficult antitrust case to make.