Why Microsoft's EU Ballot Screen Doesn't Measure Up

An anonymous reader writes "A lengthy interview on Groklaw discusses the EU's case against Microsoft. The case is supported by Opera, Google, Mozilla, ECIS, and the Free Software Foundation Europe. The EU has demanded that users be offered a 'ballot screen' to make it easier for users to select other browsers. Microsoft has responded by implementing the ballot screen as a web page inside IE. While this may nominally satisfy EU's demand, it is unlikely to satisfy users who prefer other browsers. In order to select another browser, users must be running IE. Also, users will be shown security warnings when choosing from the ballot. Microsoft's ability to charge patent fees in Europe is also discussed: why are they allowed to charge patent fees where software patents are not recognized?"

Comments

Re:I don't care about the screen...

[sopssa]

Why MS can't conceive that people don't want a lot of that crap is beyond me.

I dont think "normal people" care that much though. They dont see the difference between IE being still installed but hidden and IE being completely removed from the system. They get to choose another browser tho.

Microsoft has responded by implementing the ballot screen as a web page inside IE.

I wonder how they've could had done it differently. If you provided the install exes along with OS setup, they would be outdated (bad bad thing in browsers). They could had made another protocol that tells the setup what browsers to show for the user and setup then downloads it, but whats the point. When it's an actual webpage, there's much more control in updating it, and it would had been pretty useless for MS to develop completely new rendering engine and browser just for that (and MS browser would still had been there). The security warnings are stupid however.

Re:Oh please

[ScrewMaster]

We would all be annoyed of course, but isn't that the ultimate goal of the "fairness" crowd?

Historically, most attempts by government (any government) to promote "fairness" almost always result in increased inequity.

Re:We'll install Opera right after we install IE

[smoker2]

I don't think any FTP program producers will complain about hidden command line ftp commands being used. You do know about command line programs do you ? I don't see anybody complaining that the windows embedded FTP client interferes with GUI based FTP programs. Not to mention that FTP standards are more rigorously adhered to, or it wouldn't work. MS doesn't break http it breaks html. There is no equivalent in FTP.

Re:No more Outsuck Express

[geekboy642]

You, uh, are aware that there are better alternatives to the shitheap that is outlook express, right? Thunderbird, just to pick the popular one, doesn't have any hoops at all. Why would you jump through the MS hoops for a piece of low-grade quasi-free software?

Re:No more Outsuck Express

[Anonymous Coward]

Next motherfucker that uses the term 'lappy' gets punched in their internet face.

If it's a fuck off to the eu

[Savior_on_a_Stick]

then it's oh-so-richly deserved.

I've seen more clueless crap emanate from the eu than any hick state in the US.

Re:No more Outsuck Express

[Bigjeff5]

That's in response to those asshat toolbars like "WebSearch" which fool less than computer literate people into installing them. They switch all your search preferences to their own spyware option automagically.

The Bing option you mention would require you to manually change it, so it can't get hijacked.

In other words, it's not a bad thing.