Mozilla

Browser Ballot for Windows in Europe

July 24th, 2009

Microsoft and the European Commission have announced they are discussing a proposal for Microsoft to include a browser ballet in European versions of the Windows operating system. The ballot approach has many positive possibilities. However, the precise implementation will determine if the ballot approach is likely to be a useful remedy. For example:

  • Does the ballot apply to the copies of Windows that go through the “OEM channel” (approximately 95%) and are installed by the OEMS on computers when people buy them?
  • Will Microsoft’s update service present this ballot choice to people who already have PCs ?
  • Microsoft’s statement says their proposal will allow people to  “easily install competing browsers from the Web.” It’s not clear yet if the user can set another browser as the default browser — that is, the browser that opens up when one selects a URL. If the ballot screen doesn’t allow one to make something other than IE the default then the so-called “remedy” looks pretty flimsy.
  • Can Microsoft impose terms and requirements on products or providers listed in the ballot?

The answers to these types of questions will have a huge impact on the number of consumers who actually see a choice.

It is also critical that Microsoft respect the choice of people once they have chosen other browsers, and that neither Windows nor IE nor the Windows update system are used as tools to undo the choice of another browser. We would like to see a commitment to respecting these choices as well.

12 comments for “Browser Ballot for Windows in Europe”

  1. 1

    nobody said on July 24th, 2009 at 1:02 pm:

    While we’re at it, how about Microsoft and other vendors asking the users permission before installing browser extensions and browser plugins? I’ve disabled the .NET extension and MS office plugins on a number of firefox installs where users were complete unaware they had these things.

  2. 2

    chris thompson said on July 25th, 2009 at 6:10 am:

    I’m glad to see things heading in the right direction. I think balance is important.

    >> It is also critical that Microsoft respect the choice of people once they have chosen other browsers, and that neither Windows nor IE nor the Windows update system are used as tools to undo the choice of another browser.

    This, however, doesn’t strike me as balanced. While I would not want Microsoft / Windows / IE switching me back from Mozilla without asking, doing something like this in essence handcuffs people to Firefox – taking away their choice, just inserting your own vs theirs.

    One irritant with a recent firefox install was that I wanted this machine to have IE as the default. Don’t ask … we do lots of testing … the other machine was firefox by default.

    When I asked told IE to stop asking me to make it the default browser, it did.

    When I told firefox to stop asking me to make it the default browser, it ignored me time after time until I had to uninstall it.

    I’m glad Firefox is making it to the desktop – I’m a fan – and live by the Firebug plugin. But if we’re asking them to play fair, we should too

    Just my $0.02

  3. 3

    Chris Thompson said on July 25th, 2009 at 6:25 am:

    Just an update … I just downloaded and installed the latest Firefox to another machine. It tells me – right before the final step – that Firewill WILL be installed as my default browser. It doesn’t give me an option … it just takes over.

    Again, I do want firefox there, but for the software to automatically make itself the default while we’re condeming Microsoft for that type of activity….

  4. 4

    Kees Grinwis said on July 25th, 2009 at 7:28 am:

    @Chris Thompson: I’m not sure whether you are reading everything during the installation of Firefox, but at the START of the process there is a checkbox which can be ticked out. When you remove the tick Firefox *will not* set itself as the default browser.

    Also in relation to the question whether Firefox should check being the default browser: In the settings (Advanced, General) is an checkbox which controls whethter Fx should check the default browser settings…

  5. 5

    Karen Anne said on July 25th, 2009 at 7:02 pm:

    Ref the NYTimes article at
    http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/26/technology/companies/26mozilla.html

    as well as I can tell from the lead photo, of the 22 Mozilla employees, 21 are White guys, 1 man of color, and 0 women.

    What’s that about?

  6. 6

    JackSterling said on July 26th, 2009 at 3:09 am:

    I think “discussing a proposal for Microsoft to include a browser ballet” is a really wonderful way of saying a fancy dance is afoot.

    And yes, I am, and have been, a Netscape and Mozilla user since the names were coined long, long ago.

    Go Mozilla! Quit worrying about IE – Chrome is now the challenge.

  7. 7

    Mitchell Baker said on July 27th, 2009 at 10:22 am:

    Karen Anne: I notice this as well, when I walk into some of the meetings at Mozilla. There are a lot of women at Mozilla, but we are still the same as many open source projects where the number of women engineers is low. It’s not none — despite that picture — but it’s very low. I’ve been wondering about this — it’s not from the core since it doesn’t make sense to come to Mozilla if you can’t be happy working with me. Starting to work on this.

    We have a fair amount of diversity within mozilla, but it is lumpy– some groups are well represented, some very poorly.

  8. 8

    Mitchell Baker said on July 27th, 2009 at 10:25 am:

    Chris: Agree that users should always be able to make a choice, including leaving firefox and returning to IE. That language was shorthand for the range of techniques Microsoft has used in the past to pull people back to IE without explicit action by the user. http://blog.lizardwrangler.com/2009/02/27/ec-principle-1-respecting-previous-choice/

  9. 9

    Sue Straka said on July 29th, 2009 at 1:25 pm:

    How great! I thought about that yesterday or Monday when I saw that Merce Cunnigham had died. I’m pretty artsty, but the ballet is the art form I least understand. The problem with live dance is that it’s ephemeral and it’s not the same every time. Kudos to you for noticing that so that future dancers will now have a frame of reference of his importance and creativity for posterity.

  10. 10

    jdoe said on July 29th, 2009 at 1:45 pm:

    Agree this is so true

  11. 11

    Lennie said on July 29th, 2009 at 11:10 pm:

    OSNews has a a lot more detail:

    http://www.osnews.com/story/21904/Microsoft_Details_Browser_Ballot_Screen_Also_for_XP_Vista_Users

  12. 12

    Avery said on August 8th, 2009 at 4:51 am:

    this is so true

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