Comments on: Windows Browser Ballot Screen Is Working — Up to a Point

By: Alex

Alex — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 19:41:39 +0000

To me, this makes no sense. Microsoft make both Internet Explorer and Windows so surely they should be allowed to put their software on their OS?

By: Window Cleaning San Diego

Window Cleaning San Diego — Wed, 05 May 2010 19:59:00 +0000

My point is why should I have to do all of that? No other browser does that. How would I clean the registry without a 3rd party tool? If I knew how to do that I still would not like that its default still hijacks. And using Toyota as an example? Really? If I drove that Camry into that divider because of a faulty gas pedal, would that still count?

By: mgriscom

mgriscom — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 14:56:55 +0000

WCSD, If you hack the OS configuration (i.e. do a "registry clean up" with some 3rd-party tool) what do you expect?

I'm sure that with sufficient effort any of us can cause any OS to exhibit undesirable behavior. You might as well drive your Toyota Camry into a concrete divider, then blog "Hey! Those sucky Toyotas crash!"

By: Window Cleaning San Diego

Window Cleaning San Diego — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 03:47:30 +0000

IE8, you want to talk about giving choices??!! I downloaded this new version, and what did I get but no choice at all but to have MSN as my homepage, and bing as my search provider! Unbelievable. When I change it, and then clean the registry on my computer, BING, there it is again. Every time I run a registry clean up, it does the same thing. Isn't that exactly what a virus does, hijack your homepage?

By: MGriscom

MGriscom — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 03:55:13 +0000

users always had the choice of any of these browsers. There is no extra "choice" involved.

This is just the EU giving a boost to the Norwegian company Opera, and putting a thumb in the eye of Microsoft (and Microsoft's users).

Microsoft's problems are all political, anyway. If you read the "Findings of Fact" in the US DOJ case against Microsoft, you will probably realize that there's nothing there other than Microsoft protecting its intellectual property and protecting user experience with Windows.

By: Chris

Chris — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 20:48:00 +0000

I agree with Paul. Microsoft is not treated equal to other operating system and mobile device companies.

Other companies, like Apple, can get away with not approving Google Voice for the iPhone, but not Microsoft. It would be nice to have another professional browser on the iPhone, but we all know it won't get approved.

The law should be across the board for every OS if you're going to pass it. It's called free competitive advertising.

Google should advertise Microsoft Online services on their Google Apps website. It's only fair right?

Apple should advertise Google's Nexus One phone on their iPhone. It's only fair right?

Microsoft should advertise Adobe Flash on their Silverlight website. It's only fair right?

How professional does this concept really sound? Mr. Rupley you say "...there are a lot of users who will passively use Internet Explorer if it’s right in front of them and doesn’t require any work to use. That’s part of how it got leading market share."

Let's all advertise our competitor's products and services because...it's fair right? Somebody help me out here.

By: Paul

Paul — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 19:20:45 +0000

I understand why this ballot screen is being used but I wonder if there will be a whole lot of legal creep from this decision. Will the EU need a ballot screen for office products as well? What about instant messaging? I'm sure there are other products that are already installed on the Windows OS made by Microsoft that get more use just because they are pre-installed on the system. But where does it end? At what point can Microsoft just say "enough! This OS is ours dammit! If you don't want to use it buy a Mac or install a Linux distro!"

By: Sebastian Rupley

Sebastian Rupley — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 22:02:14 +0000

@ Anthony, yes there are parts of Europe where Firefox has shown up as the most popular browser. As far as the ballot screen goes, there are a lot of users who will passively use Internet Explorer if it's right in front of them and doesn't require any work to use. That's part of how it got leading market share. So I'm not sure that the issue with the other browsers is that they aren't good enough to win users over.

Best, Sebastian

By: Anthony

Anthony — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 21:51:07 +0000

This whole ting is getting ridiculous. By most measures Firefox is already approaching or past a 30% market share in Europe, and in some countries it has a nearly 50% share. And Chrome has passed Safari as the third most popular browser overall. Seems to me that people are well aware of how to find and install alternative browsers; if Opera still can't get any traction, maybe it because people don't like it. Many of these smaller companies either haven't done any real marketing or they are not offering a unique enough product to attract attention. What strikes me as funny about the whole situation is that more browsers run on Windows than any other OS.