News - Microsoft's Windows browser ballot approved, finalised and coming soon to a PC

[HEXUS]

The browser ballot that Microsoft hopes will appease the European Commission will be rolled out to Windows users in the coming weeks.

Read more.

[LuckyNV]

Optional update I hope.

[dangel]

All-together now...

Yay!


Can't wait for the inevitable phonecall from eight-billion-friend-and-relatives asking me what to do.

[Terbinator]

I wonder how many people actually don't know other browsers exist.

[dangel]

I wonder how many people actually don't know other browsers exist.

Plenty, I get lots of calls from people saying "when they open google" meaning the IE - but they call it google as that's their homepage..

More, pertinent is, how many people actually care?

[badass]

All-together now...

Yay!


Can't wait for the inevitable phonecall from eight-billion-friend-and-relatives asking me what to do.

I've bought "Windows xxx for dummies" for some friends/relatives.
Although this specific question will not be dealt with in any books, I can usually avoid hassle by telling them the answer's in the book I gave them. They've stopped telling me they can't be bothered to read that as they know what answer they'll get from me
Now the only IT help I give to friends/relatives is proper IT help that they actually need, rather than are too lazy to do themselves.

[Grey M@a]

What I am waiting for is when things go wrong. People swap their browsers and then call MS and cry down the phone. I hope they turn around and tell them to contact who ever made the browser. Then the likes of Mozilla, Google and Opera can cry about the fact they can't afford to support all the callers/emailers

It's bound to happen. Not looking forward to it myself as I know half the people in here that have laptops will see this and click randomly and get some random browser then come crying to me to sort it xD

[superscaper]

I look forward to seeing the browser ballot screens for Mac OS, all Linux flavours, Chrome OS, all Mobile OSes etc etc.....

[PeterStoba]

How long has windows 7 been out without this?

People are used to using 7 with IE (most home users anyway), there not going to want to change now are they?

[BobF64]

I wonder how many people actually don't know other browsers exist.

This is the real reason the other browser makers want and like this solution.

Taking out paid adverts = $millions

Having Microsoft forced to ask people to choose what they want = free

When you see the likes of Opera banging on about it, its a nice browser, standards compliant etc just a shame a lot of websites arent, but I cant say Ive ever seen them actively advertising in magazines, newspapers etc to get people to use their browser.

At least Firefox did.

[Judge Zetsumei]

Microsoft make windows, they make internet explorer. They should have every right to bundle whatever software they damn well like with it! This is just stupid. Even though I use firefox and chrome, this has lowered my respect for mozilla and google for agreeing to this. Common sense isn't very common is it?

[Saracen]

Microsoft make windows, they make internet explorer. They should have every right to bundle whatever software they damn well like with it! This is just stupid. Even though I use firefox and chrome, this has lowered my respect for mozilla and google for agreeing to this. Common sense isn't very common is it?

Well .... it's one thing bundling browser for free, but it's another embedding it so deeply that you can't get rid of it. For many users, that will be the end of considering anything else.

The same logic applies to firewalls, anti-virus, disk management tools, partitioning software, zip-type compression tools .... right the way up to a Photoshop clone and Office.

Because MS have such market power in the PC OS field, at least, excluding techies, if they bundle something where a separate market previously existed, you effectively kill off the market by removing a large chunk of the customer base from all the competition. And of you remove such a large chunk of the customer base, and the competition can't sell enough to be profitable and fund development, you risk ending up with the available market being whatever MS choose to bundle. And if there is no competition, then there is no incentive for MS to prioritise that feature, and it gets little attention or development budget, and stagnates in the realm of mediocrity.

I'm quite happy for MS to bundle all these tools if they wish, but not happy for them to be installed by default, and most emphatically not happy for them to be virtually impossible to get rid of if you don't want them, and to not be able to deselect prior to installing.

For instance, I have my own preferences for AV, for firewall, for malware, for defraggers, for compression utility and partitioning utility, for imaging and backup and most emphatically for browser ... and none of them involve MS tools, largely because they are either second-rate, or cut down and castrated versions of the tools I do use.

The browser ballot may be a daft compromise, but at least it represents a line in the sand, and a clear indication to MS that it needs to watch more carefully how it chooses to trample on small secondary markets using its dominant position, or it will find itself embroiled on years of legal battles and large expense. And all that is, ultimately, good for consumers even if they don't much care about which browser they use. It's not perfect, but it's better than letting MS just do whatever it wants.

[BobF64]

Well .... it's one thing bundling browser for free, but it's another embedding it so deeply that you can't get rid of it. For many users, that will be the end of considering anything else.

The same logic applies to firewalls, anti-virus, disk management tools, partitioning software, zip-type compression tools .... right the way up to a Photoshop clone and Office.

Its only important when its something you cant disable or replace.

Most linux installs come supplied with every app they can get their hands on, but its not forbidden.
Apple bundle a lot of apps with OS X, yet noone complains about it either.

IE has never been so deeply embedded in the OS that you cant browse the web using another browser, ok so it always being the default is annoying, but it still didnt stop you using something else.

Ultimately, bundled apps are objected to because users are "lazy" and will use whatever is available unless they are informed otherwise, and otherwise costs someone else money.

[Saracen]

Its only important when its something you cant disable or replace.

Most linux installs come supplied with every app they can get their hands on, but its not forbidden.
Apple bundle a lot of apps with OS X, yet noone complains about it either.

IE has never been so deeply embedded in the OS that you cant browse the web using another browser, ok so it always being the default is annoying, but it still didnt stop you using something else.

Ultimately, bundled apps are objected to because users are "lazy" and will use whatever is available unless they are informed otherwise, and otherwise costs someone else money.

It's not only important if it can't be disabled or replaced. By bundling it, and especially by bundling it for free, you kill off the competitive marketplace, and it doesn't matter to those companies that users are lazy, they're still out of business.

People don't moan about Linux or Apple exploiting market dominance by bundling apps for the simple reason that they don't have market dominance.

[BobF64]

By bundling it, and especially by bundling it for free, you kill off the competitive marketplace, and it doesn't matter to those companies that users are lazy, they're still out of business.

True, apathy is a great killer of markets.

But a competitive marketplace requires people to actually put some effort into selling their product, and thats what irks me, none of the other browser vendors seem to want to put much effort into it, they want the users handed to them on silver platters.

Perhaps its just the way things are in the software world compared to everything else.

[Saracen]

Netscape used to put a lot into marketing their browser, including ad's all over the place, and boxed, paid-for retail product, but the embedded nature of IE pretty much killed it anyway.

Mozilla has a rather different structure and ethos, and couldn't take MS on head-to-head if it depended on advertising or promotions, simply because of budgets. It's somewhat chicken-and-egg .... if you don't have the dominance or huge budgets, you can't compete using conventional promotions.

If you're a small software house with a great, but specialised and somewhat niche product, like a disk defragger or a CDR burning package, can you take MS on in a conventional marketing battle?

Not without deep pockets and balls of carbon steel, but even if you do, and win, if MS can then bury you by simply giving away the product free with windows, then you stand no chance.

Suppose you run the corner grocer in a small village. You've been doing fine, and okay, a small revenue stream but enough to support the business, and then ..... Tesco open a large store next door and offer everything at half the price you're charging ... or worse yet, free. Then, to add salt into your wounds, they offer to deliver to everyone in the village free of charge too. If they're giving away food, and delivering it to people's doorsteps, how much good is the best marketing campaign is the history of the universe going to do you, even if your food is better quality?

Sure, you can only take an analogy just so far, but I'm sure you get the point. IE might not be the best browser out there, but for most people, and especially those that aren't especially tech-literate, it's good enough. And free. And there already.