News - Microsoft demonstrates IE browser ballot with mock up page

[latrosicarius]

It won't come up on the first load of IE. How could it, when IE hasn't been installed yet?

IE is always installed. This is Windows we're talking about after all. Remember, if one decides to "uninstall" IE, it just deletes the executable. The IE libraries still remain because they are required by many many other Windows services and applications.

I believe this ballot screen merely downloads an alternative and sets it as the *default* browser. But IE will still remain.

[latrosicarius]

boy am I waiting for the moment someone installs a different browser and they call MS support and Microsoft tell them to get knotted and go speak to the likes of Mozilla or Opera. Can you imagine the general user going off and reading read me files for firefox or opera

Yeah, but when was the last time that you called Microsoft for support? Whether or not Microsoft will provide technical assistance is pretty much a non-issue.

If someone has a problem, the best ways to get it fixed is (1) google, (2) forums, or (3) if you are not savvy enough to try to look up the solution yourself, ask your local "guru", and by guru I mean pretty much any teenager or co-worker.

[mehmeh]

Assuming that window is an IE window (which it looks like to moi), does that mean IE will be installed along with the OS? Can't see the powers that be in Brussels going along with that u-turn. Is a nice idea though.. What it needs is a small, light weight, prefferably running in memory or very easily uninstalled "client" that displays that window when the user clicks a "get online" icon or something, (like the days of dialup when OEMs would load the desktop with supanet and AOL signup links). It would also be nice to give that program very basic browsing functionality, so those who don't want to select from Microsofts chioces can navigate to the URL of their chioce and grab the browser they want. Theres far too many changing options out there for it to be possible to include every single one and not allowing that chioce makes the whole thing pointless. Probably alot simplier in theory than practice and the more I ponder it, the more I start to think, is all this thing does is put 20 browsers in the spotlight for trouble from the EU etc. Finally it assumes Firefox, etc, want to get involved! (wonder if Microsoft have bothered to ask!).

Werent they just going to start bundling an IE install disc with their operating systems? Much simplier.

EDIT: and less of the EU bashing, if it wasnt for them, we wouldnt all be exploiting the £50 so called upgrade, would we.

[Funkstar]

It's as latrosicarius said, MS couldn't really remove IE completely from windows because so many other applications and services, including non-Microsoft ones, rely on it, or at least its components, being there.

What they can do is remove the bit that takes the rendering engine, HTTP stack, yadda yadda yadda, and turns it all into a usable browser.

Windows Update interface in Vista? Thats using all the IE components even though it isn't actually Internet Explorer.

So you can easily create a page on the MS servers and have the "browser chooser" load that, letting you choose any of the browsers listed, and preventing you from navigating to any other site before you do this, or manually install another browser.

[digit]

Thanks for deleting the thread I made in the Operating Systems forum about this ...

[Paul Adams]

http://microsoftontheissues.com/cs/b...in-europe.aspx