But I also definitely agree with Kyle that a company can easily overstep the line from assertive honesty into mudslinging (which I just don’t like). I don’t know if Opera’s CEOs have done that, I haven’t read enough to have an opinion, merely a theoretical stance.

I’ve mentioned in brief my opinion on Mozilla’s and Google’s role in the issue. I’ve also made it clear that I’m not pro-Internet Explorer. However, I don’t support Opera resorting to anti-social behavior simply because one of their competitors is doing the same.

I think you’ve made your views clear with the existing comments you’ve made. Thank you for your contribution. No need to hop identities to hammer your point home.

http://blog.lizardwrangler.com/tag/ec/

No hypocrisy what so ever here. Nope. None what so ever.

The market share claims are from Net Applications, a company known for lying about their statistics. They have pushed Opera down to 0,1 something several times. Opera actually had something like 5% market share a few years ago. Net Applications cut it down to 0,1 something overnight! The same thing happened when Opera started approaching 2% again.

And let’s not forget the time when Net Applications claimed that Chrome had a higher market share than Opera despite the fact that Google reported only 10 million Chrome users, while Opera reported 30 million active Opera users!

And what about HTMLeopard’s questions about why you are whining about Opera reporting a crime?

Should a citizen not report a crime when he sees one? Is that it?

Should Microsoft be able to keep breaking the law without consequences?

Indeed, I’d like to see a point by point response to HTMLeopard’s comment.

Apparently these types of behavior are perfectly acceptable for Mozilla and Google, since Opera is being singled out here. Quite amusing.

“Opera’s ability to get converts”

Opera has 40 million desktop users now. They grew by 55% in 2007, and 67% in 2008. Opera is getting new users fast, and the growth is apparently accelerating.

“doesn’t somehow make Opera’s actions less reprehensible”

There you have it, ladies and gentlemen. Reporting a crime is reprehensible.

“I mentioned Google and Mozilla at the end of this post. They’re not the initiators of this nonsense”

Wait, so Google and Mozilla get a “whine for free” card? Why?

And what about Google’s antitrust complaints against Microsoft? I guess that’s OK since it’s Google!

The hypocrisy is strong with this one…

Keep in mind that there are multiple ways that Microsoft’s monopoly hurts other browsers:

1. The obvious, being pre-installed makes people less aware of alternative browsers, and gives users little incentive to try another.
2. By being a de facto standard for so long, many websites decided to only support IE and its non-standard rendering. This means other browsers have had to reverse-engineer IE’s workings so sites will appear up as expected. All extra time, money and resources that only non-IE browsers have to spend.
3. The same rendering issues have led to many intranet sites based on IE-only behaviour, causing companies to stick with the browser. Since generally alternate browsers can’t even modify their codes for these sites (since they have no access to them), there’s even less they can do to compete in this situation.
4. Since users are used to sites always working in IE, all it may take is running into one bad website in an alternative browser to make them switch back. Sure, that’s mostly the website’s fault, but it’s IE’s monopoly and non-standard practices that has led to situation alternate browsers have to deal with today.

When you consider all these issues that these browsers have to deal with, is it really that petty and childish for them to issue a complaint against monopoly abuse?

@Mark – I think you nailed the issue when it comes to Opera’s ability to get converts. Opening up their product a bit to community contribution could help provide a sense of buy-in from developers that would otherwise skip over it to use Firefox.

@HTMLeopard & whining – I don’t take anonymous trollers too seriously, but I’ll try responding to you anyhow. Leopard: My “anger” (too strong a word to describe my disappointment with them) is solely due to the fact that Opera is resorting to these sort of tactics. Microsoft’s past or present behavior, regardless of how bad it might be, doesn’t somehow make Opera’s actions less reprehensible. I’ve never bought into the “He did something wrong, so now I can” mentality. Whining: In addition to being “a blogger” I’m a hard-working member of the web development community who has to deal with browsers and their numerous quirks on a daily basis. I expect a lot from these browser vendors, and although IE (for example) isn’t living up to what it needs to be, I’ll be quick to call Opera to task for dipping its toe into the petty pool. Also, as you’ll note, I mentioned Google and Mozilla at the end of this post. They’re not the initiators of this nonsense, but I’m saddened to see they’ve signed onto this sort of tactic.

I guess Mozilla and Google are allowed to whine without people whining about their whining? There’s no whining about Mozilla and Google’s whining in this blog, even though they are whining about the exact same thing Opera is whining about.

Is your anger because, according to the stats you cite while acknowledging they’re flawed, Opera has a low market share? Note that Google Chrome, Firefox are also complaining to the EU.

Is your anger because Opera has not been pushed aggressively by Google on all of its web properties, which are amongst the largest in the world?

Is your anger because they complained to the EU that they believed Microsoft to be behaving anti-competitively and now the EU are doing what any responsible “government” would do and investigating that complaint?

Is your anger because Opera is based in Norway, and so is the only browser that is inside the EU’s jurisdiction, so the only one that could make a complaint. (Google and Mozilla are not inside the EU, but were quick enough to support a complaint once it was made).

Is your anger because you believe that Microsoft should be able to behave however it wants, anywhere it wants?

Or is your anger because you needed comic fodder for your site? Nothing wrong in that, but it shouldn’t masquerade as genuine insight.