ECIS, a lobbyist group with many Microsoft adversaries as members, is calling on regulators globally to comply with the European Commission (EC) in requiring Microsoft to supply a browser ballot that calls out non-Internet-Explorer options out there to Computer consumers.Beginning March one, Microsoft began pushing out to European Union customers an EC-stipulated browser ballot,
Windows 7 32bit, which would make it plain to consumers that even though Internet Explorer (IE) comes preloaded on Windows PCs, one can find other browsers readily available. Microsoft agreed to present the browser ballot to EU buyers operating IE as their default browser on XP, Vista and Windows 7 as component of the settlement deal with the EC in an antitrust situation introduced towards Microsoft by browser maker Opera Software program.The European Committee for Interoperable Systems (ECIS) — whose members include Opera, Adobe, Corel,
Buy Office 2007, IBM, Nokia, Oracle, RealNetworks and Red Hat — is pushing for regulatory agencies in other countries to require Microsoft to deliver the browser ballot to users outside of the EC.“Microsoft agreed to change its business practices in the face of formal charges from the Commission. Consumers deserve the same unbiased browser choice on all the world’s more than one billion personal computers,” said the ECIS in a March 2 press release.Given that Opera is one of ECIS; members, it;s not too surprising that ECIS is making lots of of the same arguments Opera did when it lodged its browser-bundling complaint versus Microsoft at the end of 2007. More from the ECIS press release:“Microsoft has bundled its own Online Explorer Net browser with Windows and most people accept it instead of trolling the Internet for options. Because Windows runs on 90 percent of the world’s computers, that bundling has slowed innovation in browsers. During the first years of this century, it ground almost to a halt when there was little competition.“World-wide-web Explorer, which runs only on Windows, sometimes uses special desktop computer coding. Net pages created to those special standards will not run properly on other Internet browsers, making it necessary to use a Microsoft system to read them.”As I;ve said before, I think the browser ballot is a good thing. While IT professionals and power customers know there are choices other than IE out there and know how to get alternative browsers,
Windows 7 Ultimate Key, many non-tech-savvy Pc people do not.That said, to me, it would be a waste of time and money for other regulatory bodies to have to hear cases introduced by Microsoft;s competitors in order for the ballot screen to become a globally offering. Unfortunately,
Office Professional Plus 2010 Key, I don;t see Microsoft proactively offering the browser ballot to consumers globally — especially not while its total browser marketplace share continues to slide…Do you see any upsides (or downsides) to the Softies offering the ballot screen to customers worldwide? I;ve heard from a couple of EU customers that they think Microsoft has structured the ballot poorly,
Windows 7 Home Premium, making it difficult for end users who do basically want IE to get it. Anyone else having that same experience?