EU Accepts Microsoft's Browser Choice Promise

itwbennett writes "Hurrah! The European Commission's antitrust investigation of Microsoft's position in the browser market is over. The EC has accepted Microsoft's commitment to offer users of 'Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7 a choice screen through which they can pick the browsers they want to install on their PC,' writes Peter Sayer in an article on ITworld. 'The screen will be offered to users in the European Union and some neighboring countries for the next five years via the Windows Update mechanism. In addition, PC manufacturers will be allowed to ship computers with competing Web browsers, as well as or instead of Internet Explorer.'"

YAY

[Kc_spot]

Congrats Europe!! you'll finally be able to use Firefox and Opera or maybe even Chrome!! ...4:1 = a majority of stick with IE...

oh dear

[kennethmci]

sounds great - although, i can hear the customes complaining 'i cant find internet explorer'! i love the alternative browsers , but cant help feel the 'average consumer' doesn't really care that much? i have actually installed firefox on family members computers, and couldnt really answer ( with info that they found useful ) what the difference was... my family dont really care to much about usability compliance and security ( well - until theyre shot down themselves with it! )

Finally!

[dotwhynot]

This is great! Now all the users that really wanted a different browser finally will be able to get one!

(And all users that don't care or don't understand will pick something at random, from a list of up to 12 (!) different browsers, is going to make life interesting for developers again now that we finally were seeing IE6 starting to disappear :)

Hurrah?

[NanepubPncvgnyvfg]

This is yet another instance of the state violating our rights. "Boo", not "hurrah".

Not that I'm a huge fan of Microsoft. Financially it's not like it's going to hurt them or anything (I don't think?). But Windows is Microsoft's OS. Why should anyone have the right to force them to be "fair" and let users decide which browser to install? What's next... should we start forcing Microsoft to include Emacs, Vim, Notepad++, and Notepad2 because it's "unfair" that Notepad is included with such a popular OS?

You don't like that the OS doesn't include other browsers by default? Wipe it and install something else. You want to use a different browser? Fire up IE, and go to Opera.com, Mozilla.com, Google.com/Chrome, Webkit.org... nobody is preventing you from doing so.

But don't violate someone's right to decide whether or not they want to bundle your competing software with *their* software. Don't violate someone's right to sign a contract with someone else that says they agree not to bundle other browsers with the default installation of Windows as long as they sell PCs with Windows on them already.

Re:oh dear

[AlexiaDeath]

My dad certainly started to use the red ring thing for internet after I had to clean off porn spam off his PC. He is in his sixties and was somewhat embarrassed about it. The rest of the family does it because I named it The Internet and put it on the desktop. Since then time needed to spend cleaning both family computers during my home visits has gone down to about an hour per year. So the user might not care, but the tech savvy family member that gets the free cleanup work does.

Re:Hurrah?

[minsk]

When governments are not a huge customer of Microsoft, there might be some ground to complain about them being subject to anti-trust laws.

For the moment, "Microsoft tax" is far too literal. And your comment far too close to the usual silliness of reducing regulations on government-supported monopolies...

Re:Hurray!

[dotwhynot]

Which IE8 can't do, I think. Can you even install IE6 on Windows 7?

Only in VirtualXP mode. I believe Win7 is the best bet to get rid of most of the remaining IE6 users, because many corporation and governments that skipped the Vista upgrade cycle, and didn't want to update/certify intranet applications between cycles, will upgrade to Win7 (for many reasons). Let's hope they do it quickly. At least IE8 is a huge step in right direction.

Re:oh dear

[AlexiaDeath]

My parents use web based e-mail clients happily. I'm yet to see a free e-mail provider with MAPI. Gmail does POP and IMAP. Outlook does not do IMAP. POP3 just confuses them because it deletes all their mail from server and they can read it at other computers. That leaves Thunderbird, but honestly the Gmail web interface is better, if you have broadband and connection is always available.

Re:About time.

[Totenglocke]

There has been genuine competition for years now. The problem is, most people are 1) too stupid to learn about other browsers, even when you tell them flat out or 2) just don't care because it would require a minuscule amount of effort to install a new browser and adjust to it's layout. I even know people who've been in IT for decades who say "Why would I use anything other than IE?" even after you repeatedly explain all the superior features of other browsers plus IE's security problems. The main problem probably won't go away for a few decades, then it'll be the people who grew up using Firefox, Chrome, etc running the show and we won't have the old dinosaurs who can't comprehend installing a new browser dragging people down.

Re:Will this "FAIR" decision will include Apple?

[Anonymous Coward]

Safari has under 4% marketshare.

Good luck proving a monopoly with that fact.

It's not like Safari has been around for many years. It's not like Apple have a monopoly in the operating system market that they're using to gain marketshare in the browser market.

Seriously, you should research the original anti-trust case to see what all the fuss was about. Microsoft uses their monopoly power to subsidise functionality in a different business area in order to gain control and be anti-competitive. They came within a bush of being split up.

Re:Depends on the description...

[bcmm]

They'd never get away with that, but they will get away with this:

You must install one of:
A) Microsoft Internet Explorer 11 *
C) Mozilla Firefox 3

And let the users form their own uninformed opinions of which one comes with the newest, shiniest internet.
And of course, if they avoid the phrase "which web browser", a lot of users will think they're being asked to choose between the internet and something they've never heard of (these are the ones who successfully got through XP's network setup wizard by clicking on whatever button was closest to the word "Internet" until it worked).

* Remember, they are currently working on incrementing their version number as fast as they think they can get away with.

Re:This is only fair under one condition

[gbarules2999]

No, IE became powerful because it shipped on Windows by default. For perhaps one release, most considered it better than the competition. However, competition meant little once IE was used by pretty much everyone because it was default. Microsoft made sure that most users never had a choice between more than one browser, and because of this, they more or less shoved IE into the face of most Windows users, making competition a thing of the past.

This EU ruling came about a decade too late, but that doesn't mean it's groundless.

Re:oh dear

[koiransuklaa]

Outlook may be a good Exchange client, but calling it a capable e-mail client is stretching it...

Re:Hurrah?

[Draek]

The OP's answer to someone saying "Microsoft is violating our rights" was to say "they make the rules, leave if you don't like it" as well, so in that context at least the GP's argument is valid.

Re:past behaviour

[Locutus]

Unfortunately, this is how the system works and it is just one reason why people who've noticed this stuff dislike the company so much. Add too it how they continually drag their feet working out a solution just like they did here. It took them 12 months to get to this "solution" after Microsoft proposed having Internet Explorer already installed and used as the method to display the selection. I don't doubt that this "solution" is also going to take over a year to implement and test so don't hold your breath that any change is going to happen soon.

IMO, the OS war still rages on and Microsoft knows the legal system can do little to contain their battle techniques.

LoB

Re:past behaviour

[Insanity Defense]

Yes, that's right. Supplying your own browser with your own operating system is analogous to murdering someone. Good work.

Microsoft did more than just supply a browser for their own OS. They forbade OEMS from installing any other browser. They programmed it into the system so that end users couldn't easily remove it. They did everything they could to KILL competing browsers. In short they used their OS monopoly to force a browser monopoly and that was and is illegal. Now attempts are being made to rebuild competition in the browser field.

Re:Hurray!

[SanityInAnarchy]

Why not make Apple do that on their machines?

Because Apple isn't a monopoly. It can't be an abuse of monopoly power if you aren't a monopoly in the first place.

Re:I demand choice in my car as well

[AntiDragon]

General Motors have a 90% share in car sales worldwide? I'm shocked and awed!

Re:I demand choice in my car as well

[StuartHankins]

When has General Motors been declared a monopoly? Do you really not understand the conversation? Are you so thick you can't understand what being a convicted monopoly means? Wow.