Microsoft Agrees To EU Browser Ballot Screen

An anonymous reader sends in coverage from Ars Technica of Microsoft's capitulation to the EU, after European regulators requested that Redmond bundle multiple browsers on new PCs. "Microsoft has decided that the last thing it needs in this economy is some combination of the following: fines, legal bills, and a delay of Windows 7. It has offered to adopt the European Union's preferred solution for browser competition: a browser selector screen at startup."

In before the morons

[cyber-vandal]

But but but......Apple and KDE and GNOME and Google don't have to bundle other browsers so the EU sucks and just wants to hurt a successful MERKIN company!!!!!

IE will still dominate

[gstep]

My guess is most people will still choose to use Internet Explorer, unless they already use Firefox/Chrome/Safari or whatever. People like what they're used to, even when it's crap. I try hard to convince people to stop using Internet Exploder but they always tell me they like it because it's what they know.

Re:In before the morons

[Anonymous Coward]

Apple and KDE are valid comparisons. Google would be soon too. They're just not as easy a target, nor as deep pocketed. How the EU can justify forcing MS to do it but not the others, I'm not sure, except by saying "MS has a larger market share." To which I say: So fucking what. A vertical monopoly is still a monopoly.

Why not OEMs?

[Tubal-Cain]

European regulators requested that Redmond bundle multiple browsers on new PCs

Excuse me? I can understand requesting IE to be unbundled, but telling MS to bundle other browsers is just stupid. Let the OEMs do that. I hope the summary isn't having a rare moment of accuracy.

Re:IE will still dominate

[sqrt(2)]

At the very least it will get them on a current version of IE. IE8 is actually pretty good. MS finally started improving their browser once they had some serious competition, and that's good for everyone regardless of what you use. Outdated IE users are bad for the whole internet.

Good idea for Microsoft.

[RightSaidFred99]

Someone on another forum brought this up. Microsoft should offer a list of about 100 browsers in the EU version of Windows. Literally 100. Put IE first and then put the rest in random order.

Then tell the EU to put that in their pipes and smoke on it.

Re:MS just needs to pull out.

[Anonymous Coward]

You do realize that if they pull out of Europe then Europe will have little choice but to move to alternative OSs right?

The last thing that Microsoft wants to do is push a large market to (possibly free) alternatives.

Utterly stupid

[Darkon]

Who gets to decide which browsers are included in this "ballot screen"? Based on what criteria?

If it's simply going to be the top 5 or whatever based on current market share then this is simply cementing the status quo rather than helping competition and innovation, and if any any every browser gets a look in then what's to stop SuperSpywareBrowser2009 from appearing in the choices?

You're a genius.

[chrb]

Seriously, Microsoft should just pull out of an economy of $18.394 trillion GDP? While in the meantime, the governments involved would most likely invoke the "national security" clauses in copyright treaties to allow piracy of Windows and Office, whilst simultaneously launching accelerated projects to switch to Linux asap? What do you think this would do to the MS stock price? And why should any corporation have the right to violate the laws of democratic nations anyway? Microsoft is not the only corporation to have been fined by the E.U. [slashdot.org]

Re:In before the morons

[John Betonschaar]

I'd mod you up if I had points, I don't really get it either. It's a good thing if anti-competetive behaviour is punished but the whole browser story really is beating a dead horse. The EU is trailing reality by a few years again, just like when they forced Microsoft to release a Windows-N without Windows Media Player. All the poisoning Microsoft could have done to the market when it comes to media players is already in the past. There really isn't anything stopping you from installing alternate media players or browsers in WIndows, forcing file associations or whatever. As much as I'd love to see the world move away from Windows and Microsoft, I really don't see the point in making their life hard over media players or browsers right now.

I expect the EU to be fining Microsoft for deliberately screwing up standardization of office document formats... In 2020...

Re:I wonder what choices they will pick?

[RLiegh]

Actually, looking at what they do with IE8, I think that you're almost right. To be accurate, what (IMO) is most likely is that when you install 7 you'll get a dialog box that says something like:

Please set up your browser experience:
1)Express setup (use default settings for browser, email and blogging)
2)Custom setup (choose your custom applications for web, search, blogging, email, messaging, help, tags and a variety of other confusing minutae that you really don't want to spend 45 minutes going through.

They'll make option 2 intimidating and a total PITA that most people will pick option 1 (which, of course, installs ie8.)

Re:Wimps

[EvilBudMan]

I think they should have just been made to do what every other company does. Not a big M$ fan but who decides which browsers get to be on the ballot? This ain't 1996 and it's too late now. I would like to see more interoperability from the M$ servers and the clients. Like if you have a Windows server you can't afford to replace but want to replace your clients then you have to kludge things to get that to work. This really locks in small businesses to using their total solution. I guess Apple is the same in fact, but I don't know too many people that use their servers.

Re:MS just needs to pull out.

[exasperation]

While a risky move, Microsoft just needs to pull out of the EU and say "Piss off"

Lolwut? Why yes, Microsoft should pull out of the world's largest market, probably cutting their revenue by about 30%, just to stand up to some pushy EU bureaucrats, that makes good business sense!

Re:IE will still dominate

[clone53421]

Work, I'm guessing.

Imagine these choices

[Kashell]

Internet Explorer
Yeratu
Swallow
Tires

I made these up of course, but to your average user, that's exactly what they'll see when they see:

Internet Explorer
Firefox
Opera
Chrome

What browser do you think they will choose? Hmmmm?

Re:Imagine these choices

[jonbryce]

But if it is

Internet Explorer
Mozilla Firefox
Opera
Google Chrome

A lot of people will go for the fourth option. They have heard of google.

Re:Google Chrome

[Inda]

My thoughts are that Americans are ignorant.

Mod me troll but you did ask.

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[account_deleted]

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Re:Utterly stupid

[rsmith-mac]

Actually you had it right, it is the top 5 browsers. From the AP [ap.org]

would see a Web page prompting them to pick from five of the most popular browsers in Europe.

Microsoft said the list of browsers would be reviewed twice a year based on usage data for the previous six months.

Why the top 5, and not the top 6 or 4? I'd have to assume it's because there are 5 major browsers: IE, Firefox, Safari, Chrome, and Opera. This fits all of them, and it's likely that either Chrome or Opera is in the #5 slot, so anything less would be at risk of either the 800lb gorilla or the EU's only home-grown browser not making the list.

Still, you're right, the problem with this solution is that it helps maintain status quo. The browser monopoly has been replaced with what amounts to a browser cartel - no one is going to want to be bumped off of that list. Which is why all of the proposed solutions suck in some way: You enforce status quo with a limited list, you create virtual anarchy with a list of all browsers, and you screw over users with no browser.

The browser ballot solution is a lousy solution, and I don't want to be around for the can of worms it creates.

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[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:Wimps

[Anonymous Coward]

You know, some of us have sig display turned off. Would you please quote what TF you're talking about. Otherwise you sound like a retard answering a question that no one's asked. This goes double in half a year, when your parent has changed his sig to "This is Bunny".

Re:Utterly stupid

[quentez]

I agree with that, If I'm developing a browser, can I have it in that list ? Obviously, NO. Firefox has already something like 30-40% market shares... tough, can you still say that IE is in a monopolly position ? Lately, the only places where I've seen IE used as the default browser (and I see a loooot of pcs) was in small / large businesses. Why ? Because firefox have no msi installer nor active directory settings, so it would be a pain in the butt for IT guys to deploy. I'm french, and regarding this issue I'm ashamed by the EU behavior, even the No-Browser option was better than that. Now it's an open door to everything. In 5 year we'll have to choose at the first startup if we want to use WMP/iTunes, Microsoft security essentials/Norton/Bitdefender/McAfee, Windows Explorer/GnomeForWindows/StardockExplorer. And by 2040, will the windows package will also contain Mac OSXX ? By pleading one monopoly, their creating 5 monopolies.

Re:In before the morons

[jez9999]

MS aren't a successful merkin company. This [merkinworld.com] is a successful merkin company.