The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee will look into accusations byMozilla that Microsoft is restricting access to importantprogramming tools for browsers that will run in Windows RT, apolitical blog reported Friday. The Hill cited unnamed aides to Sen. Herb Kohl (D-Wis.), the chairman ofthe Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy, and ConsumerRights, as the source for its report. Last week, Mozilla, the maker of Firefox, said Microsoft was withholding access to APIs -- application programming interfaces -- that Mozilla considerscrucial for building a browser that can compete with Microsoft'sown Internet Explorer 10 (IE10) on ARM devices. Although IE10 will have access to those APIs in Windows RT, rivalbrowsers, including Firefox, will not. Mozilla argued that accessto the Win32 APIs were necessary to develop a version of Firefoxthat could render JavaScript quickly, as well as to isolateplug-ins and tabs to make the browser more secure from exploits andmore stable overall. In a blog post last week, Harvey Anderson, Mozilla's chief counsel,raised the antitrust flag, saying that Microsoft's blocking of theAPIs "seems to represent the very behavior the [Department ofJustice]-Microsoft settlement sought to prohibit." Microsoft is no longer under U.S. government scrutiny in the wakeof the landmark 1998 antitrust case, but the eventual settlementrequired Microsoft to share its APIs with third-party vendors.Microsoft has repeatedly promised to continue that sharing. In answer to follow-up questions Friday, however, Anderson seemedto back away from any legal recourse. "We think the most effective way toresolve this is through critical discussion and transparency of theissues rather than through legal action," he said. Google has said it shares Mozilla's concern over the Windows RTbrowser situation. Microsoft has declined to comment on Mozilla's accusations. Kohl's office was unavailable for comment Sunday. Gregg Keizer covers Microsoft, security issues, Apple, Web browsersand general technology breaking news for Computerworld. FollowGregg on Twitter at @gkeizer , on Google+ or subscribe to Gregg's RSS feed . His email address is. See more by Gregg Keizer on Computerworld.com . Read more about browsers in Computerworld's Browsers Topic Center. We are high quality suppliers, our products such as IPL Hair Removal Machines Manufacturer , Ultrasound Fat Burning Machine Manufacturer for oversee buyer. To know more, please visits Laser IPL Machine.
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