I want to start off by saying, again, that the comments I post here are my own opinion and shouldn't be taken as the official position of "Mozilla".
I have a question. It's pretty simple but I'm really looking for serious responses from any of you that have been following this issue here or elsewhere.
Let's assume there are two possible outcomes with this EU/EC Microsoft thing. The first outcome is that Microsoft convinces the EU that Microsoft has done nothing wrong and the whole thing goes away. The second outcome is that Microsoft doesn't convince the EU that Microsoft has done nothing wrong and the EU then must come up with a remedy.
In the first case, it's done with and every one moves on. In the second case, something happens.
Now to my question. If the second case happens and the EU is going to develop and enforce a remedy, would you rather that remedy be informed by the other browser vendors (say Mozilla, Apple, Opera, Google, Maxthon, etc.) or would you rather the EU come up with something on its own?
I'm not asking you whether or not you think the EU involvement is a good thing or a bad thing. I'm asking you, now that it's happening, would you rather they go it alone and try to figure this all out themselves or would you rather that other browser vendors had a chance to participate.
My take on it is that it's possible that, if left to figure it out on their own, the EU could come up with a remedy that's far worse than the problem it seeks to solve. I could come up with several of those on my own. Many of you have shared your view of possible horrible remedies here and elsewhere.
I personally would rather that a bad remedy doesn't happen. I think that most people at Mozilla and most interested other browser vendors agree with that. I assume that you all would agree too but that's why I'm asking.
I mean, could you imagine if the EU told Microsoft that they had to ship an OS with no browser or no Internet functionality at all? That would be horrible for everyone. I, as a concerned browser user and as an advocate of hundreds of millions of browser users, would really really want to be in a position to know if something like that was going to happen and I'd want to be able to tell the EU that I think it's a bad idea.
What's your take? Would you rather (personally, or Mozilla on your behalf) know what's happening and be a part of the discussion or would you rather sit on the sidelines and just wait to see what happens?
update: obviously I come at this from the perspective of someone involved with browsers. David Illsley makes a good point in the comments about others having an interest in this issue. So, let me expand slightly and rephrase the question.
Are you for or against third parties with an interest in this issue (say, browser vendors, OEMs, standards bodies, etc.) getting directly involved? A follow-up for those who are against it: What is the better outcome you expect to come from the EU designing a remedy without input from those "interested third parties"?
