BrowserChoice.eu: Difference between revisions
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[[Opera Software]] complained that the ballot screen could not be reached in some cases because of the start configuration screens of IE.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/04/03/windows_ie_browser_ballot_screen |title=Opera alerts EU to hidden Windows browser-ballot |last=Clarke |first=Gavin |date=3 April 2010 |publisher=[[The Register]] |accessdate=8 April 2010 }}</ref> |
[[Opera Software]] complained that the ballot screen could not be reached in some cases because of the start configuration screens of IE.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/04/03/windows_ie_browser_ballot_screen |title=Opera alerts EU to hidden Windows browser-ballot |last=Clarke |first=Gavin |date=3 April 2010 |publisher=[[The Register]] |accessdate=8 April 2010 }}</ref> |
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All of the links to the other browsers go through the Microsoft web site so they must be doing something with the data that they get from users choices. |
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==Petition== |
==Petition== |
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Revision as of 08:08, 28 November 2012
BrowserChoice.eu is a website that was created in March 2010 as the result of the decision in the European Union Microsoft competition case. The case involved legal proceedings by the EU against Microsoft and found that, by including Internet Explorer with their market-dominant Windows operating system, Microsoft had used their dominance of the operating system market to also create a dominant market position in the web browser market. The BrowserChoice.eu website was created by Microsoft to allow users that had not made, or were unaware of, a choice to try other browsers, and thus comply with the European Commission's ruling.
Web browser choice screen
The web browser choice screen also known as the web browser ballot box is a screen displayed in Internet Explorer that offers twelve browsers in a random order.[1]
The screen is presented only to Windows users whose default web browser is Internet Explorer. It currently affects only the European Economic Area.[2]
A patch was made available via Windows Update to provide the screen to users. It will be displayed to anyone who has not chosen another browser as their default browser.[3]
Browsers listed
The browser choice screen lists 12 browsers in random order: the top tier of five are immediately visible and the remaining seven can be seen by scrolling the list. The order of the browsers on the page was initially planned to be alphabetical, however after criticism a random system is now used with two groups.
The first group includes the five most used web-browsers: Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Opera and Maxthon. This group contains browsers representing the four major rendering engines: Trident, Gecko, WebKit and Presto.
The second group contains seven less well-known browsers also in random order: Avant Browser, Comodo Dragon, K-Meleon, Lunascape, Rockmelt, SRWare Iron and SlimBrowser.
Revisions
In August 2010, Microsoft removed GreenBrowser and Sleipnir from the choices, replacing them with Lunascape and SRWare Iron.[4][5]
In November 2011, Microsoft reduced the number of second tier browser from the previous seven to six. They removed Flock and SlimBrowser, but re-established Sleipnir.
As of February 2012, Microsoft has increased the number of second tier browsers to seven: Comodo Dragon and Rockmelt were added, while Sleipnir was removed again.
As of August 2012, Microsoft has removed Apple Safari from the first tier and replaced it with Maxthon. SlimBrowser was added back to the second tier.
As of November 2012, Microsoft has readded Apple Safari but only has one screen of five browsers including Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, Safari and Maxthon.
Results
Competing browsers have seen their traffic increase,[6] suggesting that these smaller competing developers are gaining users.
Criticism
The way the page has been written has come under criticism. The order of the browsers on screen was insufficiently random, which led to uneven distribution.[7][8] This was later fixed by Microsoft.[9]
The choice of browsers has also been criticised.[10] Half of the suggested browsers use the Trident (Internet Explorer's) rendering engine, thus, users who choose web browsers other than Internet Explorer for the intention of avoiding Internet Explorer, are still using the same Trident layout engine that Internet Explorer uses.[10] This has resulted in criticism amongst the web development community even though Microsoft was simply adhering to the court agreement's methodology."[10]
Opera Software complained that the ballot screen could not be reached in some cases because of the start configuration screens of IE.[11]
All of the links to the other browsers go through the Microsoft web site so they must be doing something with the data that they get from users choices.
Petition
The second-tier browsers Flock, Avant, GreenBrowser, Maxthon, Sleipnir, and Slim have sent a petition to the EU to get Microsoft to add text or a graphic (rather than just the slider) indicating that there are more than five browsers.[12] Microsoft has responded by stating: "We (Microsoft) do not plan on making any changes at this time."[13]
References
- ^ Heiner, Dave (19 February 2010). "The Browser Choice Screen for Europe: What to Expect, When to Expect It". Microsoft. Retrieved 24 June 2011.
- ^ "Microsoft Statement on European Commission Decision" (Press release). Microsoft. 16 December 2009. Retrieved 14 October 2012.
- ^ "Microsoft liefert Web-Browser-Auswahlfenster ab 17. März aus". heise online. 19 February 2010. Retrieved 14 October 2012.
- ^ "Information Regarding Web Browsers". Archived from the original on 22 August 2010. Retrieved 14 October 2012.
- ^ "Information Regarding Web Browsers". Archived from the original on 28 August 2010. Retrieved 14 October 2012.
- ^ Pfanner, Eric (7 March 2010). "Microsoft Gives Rival Browsers a Lift". The New York Times. Retrieved 7 March 2010.
- ^ Wauters, Robin (22 February 2010). "How Random Is Microsoft's Random Browser Choice Screen In Europe?". TechCrunch. Retrieved 14 October 2012.
- ^ Bright, Peter (2 March 2010). "Coding error leads to uneven EU browser ballot distribution". Ars Technica. Retrieved 14 October 2012.
- ^ Metz, Cade (9 March 2010). "Microsoft rejiggers EU browser ballot after complaints". The Register. Retrieved 14 October 2012.
- ^ a b c Ward, Mark (3 March 2010). "Microsoft browser ballot criticised for being 'limited'". BBC. Retrieved 14 October 2012.
- ^ Clarke, Gavin (3 April 2010). "Opera alerts EU to hidden Windows browser-ballot". The Register. Retrieved 8 April 2010.
- ^ Petition To The European Commission [dead link]
- ^ Shankland, Stephen (5 March 2010). "Minor browsers seek more prominence in Europe". CNET. Retrieved 14 October 2012.
External links
