14^th February, 2001.

Competition Directorates-General
European Commission
200 rue de la Loi/Wetstraat 200
B-1049 Brussels
Belgium
EU

Dear Sir/Madam,

Microsoft and other US computer companies have monpolies covering large parts of the computer industry, they have used anti-competitive practices to help create and support these. The following is an example of anti-competitive practice being carried out by Microsoft in the EU right now. Microsoft has been giving away, for free, Internet Explorer and Outlook Express, which meant that Netscape was force to give their Internet package away for free (They had previously charged at least £45). This also means that other internet software providers are having their market share minimised. This is destroyer pricing, i.e. selling below cost. Obviously the product cost a great deal to develop and update, yet they are selling it for nothing. This stifles competition in this part of the IT market. Both companies are already well established in the EU market. Destroyer pricing is aimed at removing competition from the market, so that prices can be raised and your market share is protected. The cost of doing this is borne by over charging on other products in the market where Microsoft has no effective competition. One of the reasons Microsoft wants to dominate the web browser market is to protect it's monopoly in operating systems.

This is a formal complaint against Microsoft. Please could you also send me a summary of any action taken against them and any cases open at present.