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Spain: Group files new complaint against Microsoft to EU, but are charges unfounded?

By  |  March 26, 2013

A new complaint has been filed with the European Commission against Microsoft Corp less than a month after the software company was fined about $731 million for breaching previous agreements that it would ensure consumer have a choice of Web browsers on its operating systems. An 8,000-member group based in Spain is now accusing Microsoft of barring its customers from installing Linux-based operating systems, which operates under an open source software development and distribution model. The group, Hispalinux, is arguing that Microsoft’s UEFI Secure Boot- which prevents Windows 8 from running Linux systems – is a “technological jail” for computer booting systems. There are loopholes to the Linux ban, however, as computer operators can disable the firmware settings – reports say that, in practice, there most likely has not been a significant decrease in Linux usage on computers running Windows.

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