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Microsoft Backs Down On Making IE8 Default At Upgrade
Barence writes "Internet Explorer 8 will no longer replace the default browser when a user selects the 'Use express settings' option during installation. Back in May, Mozilla and Opera accused Microsoft of force-feeding users Internet Explorer 8 through the Automatic Updates process. The object of their ire was the 'Use express settings' option which automatically sets Internet Explorer 8 as the default browser. The option was already ticked when Automatic Updates offered users the choice to upgrade their browser. 'We heard a lot of feedback from a lot of different people and groups and decided to make the user choice of the default browser even more explicit,' notes Microsoft in a blog post."
And then you just leave yourself with outdated and potentially bug-riddled software still installed on your machine. The better option would be to remove IE completely if you don't use it, but that's obviously not possible ;)
Surely the problem was that the update changed the default browser, not that it upgraded the non-default one.
Usually Microsoft's actions are fairly transparent, but I really can't understand what they are trying to achieve with this policy
Good, I hate when installers and update utilities hide crap like that behind "express" or default settings. It's by no means a Microsoft-only trick though, the one I find most annoying is AIM's attempt to install all sorts of toolbar crap hidden behind a default checkbox so you have to uncheck two levels of things to stop it. Even Mozilla does this to some extent to set itself as default, the only difference is anyone who's installed Mozilla probably actually WANTS it to be default, whereas with IE you'll have it rather you want it or not.
However, since MS pushed IE8 as a critical update through their automatic update service the user doesn't really have much choice
It's slightly more subtle than that. A forced upgrade from IE7 to IE8 doesn't seem much of an issue to me. It defaulting to changing itself to being the default browser doesn't rattle me too much either (though it does annoy me). What really gets to me is the fact that such a huge change in user preferences is "hidden" behind a "use express settings" tick box.
Isn't half the point of a computer that you don't need to pay such a price for being lazy?
...if it helps continue the death of IE6
I'm god, but it's a bit of a drag really...
"The reason why it's acceptable that Firefox, Opera etc does this is because the user chose to download the browser."
You're using a double standard here. I downloaded Google Chrome so I could go and try it out. Give it the benefit of the doubt, and so forth. I didn't need it to be my default browser any more than I needed Opera to be my default browser when I decided to try it out.
Certainly its easy to fix this. Most of the browsers will demand to be set as the default browser when you open them, but this is a conversation for the new and inexperienced users who don't know how to change that. If they did download Chrome (because Google is pushing chrome aggressively on every page) having it be the default browser could be a huge learning curve.
Now, I'm all for making users learn something, but eventually they end up calling you on the phone and demand you make it work right.
IMO, the reason why it's unacceptable is because this is a freaking upgrade. The preference is already set to whichever browser the user favors, why should it be reset ? The existing choice should be left alone.
If it's a fresh installation, fine go ahead and toggle it by default, that's a good way to minimize user confusion ("I just installed Thingy 8, where the hell is it?"). If it's an upgrade, just replace those damned files and leave my settings the way they are.
-Billco, Fnarg.com
The problem with not upgrading is that something else may use the browser, and an old Microsoft browser will be buggy, probably.
... 'We heard a lot of feedback from a lot of different people and groups and decided to make the user choice of the default browser even more explicit,' notes Microsoft in a blog post."
Google: Don't do evil.
Microsoft: Evil for profit.
Google: It's finished, but we call it beta.
Microsoft: It's beta, but we call it finished. (All of our customers are part of our beta test team.)
"Internet Explorer 8 will no longer replace the default browser when a user selects the 'Use express settings' option during installation.
Translation: "We do as much evil as we can. But we are afraid of another anti-trust investigation."
All my opinion, but I'm not the only one.
People like you are the reason we have botnets.