I have to admit I am a little confused at the New York Times and their apparent lack of research. What I am referring to is the article at http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/27/technology/27vista.html that is a report that rivals of Microsoft have called on the European Commission to block XAML because:

The group said Microsoft’s XAML markup language — which it said was positioned to replace the current Web page language HTML — was designed “from the ground up to be dependent on Windows.”

It seems to me that a little searching on XAML on the web would lead them to the WPF/E page at http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/asp.net/bb187358.aspx that states:

“WPF/E” is the Microsoft solution for delivering rich, cross-platform, interactive experiences including animation, graphics, audio, and video for the Web and beyond. Utilizing a subset of XAML (eXtensible Application Markup Language)-based Windows Presentation Foundation technology, “WPF/E” will enable the creation of content and applications that run within multiple browsers and operating systems (Windows and Macintosh) using Web standards for programmability. Consistent with Web architecture, the XAML markup is programmable using JavaScript and works well with ASP.NET AJAX. Broadly available for customers in the first half of 2007, “WPF/E” experiences will require a lightweight browser plug-in made freely available by Microsoft.

I don't have a Mac so I can't test it but I would assume that if the statement that WPF/E runs on a Mac were not true the New York Times would also have pointed that out. In any case is should be easy for the EU to look at XAML and that it runs on more than one browser and more than one OS and decide that it is a new language/plug-in/applet/whatever they want to call it just like Flash, Java Applets, AJAX, or any other technology that runs in a browser and throw out the whole complaint or make the decision that anything that is not a W3C approved HTML standard is not allowed to run in the EU.

I know that Microsoft has done some things in the past that make it hard for others to compete in the marketplace but this does not seem to be one of them. I see WPF and WPF/E as a way for me to make better web pages. I hope that the politicians will stay out of the decision and let the market place decide whether or not WPF and WPF/E are useful technologies.