Four U.S. consumer groups criticized Microsoft Corp.'s Windows XP operating system on Tuesday, saying the software giant was again using the anti-competitive tactics that have tied it up in court for three years.
In a joint statement, the Consumer Federation of America, Consumers Union, Media Access Project, and U.S. Public Interest Research Group, complained that the new operating system "advances the company's illegal anti-competitive practices and harms the nation's consumers."
"Activities such as communications, commerce, streaming audio/visual applications, and on-line services are, at the present, vigorously competitive," the groups said in a statement. "These essential areas of the 21st Century economy will be threatened, and consumers harmed, if Windows XP and its tightly bundled version of Internet software hits shelves as planned."
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