Like Intel, Microsoft does not want government mandates for for one type of technology, because that will slow down "the industry's ability to respond to consumer demand". It reckons that a "compulsory" platform will result in Europeans not having full access to the full range of products.

Standards, Microsoft egregiously says, should be open and "avoid favouring particular proprietary technology". And the Multimedia Home Platform (MHP) does not meet these tests.

But it's evident from later parts of its six page PDF that Microsoft's real beef with MHP is because it makes a "mandatory" reference to Java specifications that are under the control of its bete noir, Sun Microsystems - and Java.

Microsoft claims that to access the Java specs, implementors must accept a click through licence "imposed by Sun" that includes obligations to license technology from its great enemy.

It reckons that implementors must enter into a "private arrangement with a proprietary company" and that's against the "established policy of standards bodies around the globe".

Microsoft also alleges that Sun has never said what intellectual property it has in implementations of Java technology.

It says the MHP is dependent on a "key proprietary API technology" and that that's no more open than currently deployed technologies.

"It should not be granted a favoured position relative to alternative technologies."

Intel's submission, on the other hand, is far less ambiguous than the Vole's. It says it is OS agnostic. In other words, this means that it doesn't give a hoot about either Microsoft or Sun as long as it sells more silicon.

Here's the EU referring page, and this is Microsoft's submission. µ