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EU Accepts Microsoft's Browser Choice Promise
itwbennett writes "Hurrah! The European Commission's antitrust investigation of Microsoft's position in the browser market is over. The EC has accepted Microsoft's commitment to offer users of 'Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7 a choice screen through which they can pick the browsers they want to install on their PC,' writes Peter Sayer in an article on ITworld. 'The screen will be offered to users in the European Union and some neighboring countries for the next five years via the Windows Update mechanism. In addition, PC manufacturers will be allowed to ship computers with competing Web browsers, as well as or instead of Internet Explorer.'"
Which IE8 can't do, I think. Can you even install IE6 on Windows 7?
It is by my will alone my thoughts acquire motion; it is by the juice of the coffee bean that the thoughts acquire speed
Since Internet Explorer is integrated into the OS, does this mean they changed the OS significantly or just removed the interface? If you just get rid of the icon and/or executable for IE, the operating system would still use the underlying functionality of IE for Internet access so some exploits would still exist and would require continued patching. This change does protect the user on behavior abuses involving the user when the browser is in use but not other Windows features using the underlying functionality.
As for a car analogy, isn't removing IE like removing a factory stereo CD deck that also does the GPS navigation and diagnostic interface then replacing it with an after-market stereo CD deck to gain the MP3 playing feature but without those other features. If the user expects to use those other features, they cannot replace the factory deck and would be better off to add a portable player (Firefox, Chrome, etc.) via the AUX input and never use the CD player part (IE).
I Cater to the Needs of Stupid People. - from a coffee mug Christmas gift
I hate IE as much as the next guy, and have no love for MS in general, but I don't see what the big deal is? Why wouldn't they integrate their own browser with their own operating system? They don't even charge for IE, so how can it be a monopoly issue? I must be missing something. Are they going to have include the option of installing crimson editor instead of notepad? How about BB4Win instead of explorer.exe? They don't stop you from installing other browsers, so who cares? Grandma's stuck with IE because she doesn't know how to install Firefox herself. Then she probably wouldn't notice the difference either.
Slashdot is not a game, Slashdot is not a game. Crap, I just lost points.
But really, PowerShell is better than all of the above.
Depends on whether you think that types are a good thing or a bad thing in shells. If you like types, then PowerShell is indeed MSNirvana(TM). Those of us who think that types are just an annoyance when it comes to sticking programs together to do cool stuff, well, we're just never going to be all that impressed with MS's offering here and will stick to other technologies.
Who's right? I'm definitely biased, but I rather like the POSIX way of doing things.
"Little does he know, but there is no 'I' in 'Idiot'!"
First of all, the engine of Safari is open source, portable. See it at http://webkit.org/ . It is so platform neutral that Gnome camp, KDE Camp (Qt 4) and Apple's toughest smart phone competitor (Nokia) uses it.
Do you see anything like mshtml.org ? Please tell me if you see one. Even Apple is not a convicted monopoly, by offering their Webkit openly, for free to dozens (including competitors) and enabling even MS IE to use it, if they wish, the situation changes instantly.
Stop comparing Apple Safari to Windows IE, they are really, really irrelevant. BTW; where is MS IE 8 for OS X? For what exact reason it is not shipped? Because MS wants to "punish" OS X users for not choosing Windows. Same can be said about Linux/BSD. EU and US Judicial system is dealing with a company like that. A total spoiled 6 year old rich kid.
IE8 is still a PITA. One example: The most useful feature in web design, PNGs with alpha channels, is still horribly broken in IE8 when used in all but the most trivial ways. You can't simply combine them with the alpha(opacity) filter (which is Microsoft's weird way of working around the lack of CSS opacity support). There are even some cases which IE7 got right and IE8 screws up. Even in the cases where it seemingly works (i.e., it doesn't turn the alpha-channel into GIF like 1-bit transparency), IE8 and all IEs before it get alpha-channel PNGs with alpha-filter on top completely wrong. Buffoons.
Microsoft has been convicted of violating anti-trust laws. To force a browser down someone's throats for them is bad because they have 90% of the computing world at their fingertips.
THAT'S the difference between Apple and MS. Apple does not. They have, what 8%? That is not a monopoly. Therefore, it is an inane comparison to make. Microsoft is severly limited by what they can and can't do because they are so large and powerful, NOT because of the morals of the issue.
Just because you don't like Apple and their way of business doesn't mean you have to go around every story posting about how Apple should be procecuted for violating anti-trust laws too. They do not have a monopoly on computer hardware and therefore cannot violate these laws - they merely do not allow anyone but themselves (and chosen others) to sell their software and hardware. As for the iPod, that may be a different story, though the MP3 player market is so random and shifting that it's hard to punish anyone for what happened a year ago when it's already irrelivant.
PowerShell is very cool but in reality it's not just about the shell, it's also about the tools: typical linux install has a better selection and there are loads and load more available with just a quick "apt-cache search problem ... apt-get install new-tool"
To clarify then.. I was referring to the interface, not the automatic update that only a fool would use. Sure updates can be downloaded and installed manually as well, but that's a pain in the ass for most users. It's funny regarding the comment about being able to get the updates using Firefox 1.5... Whenever I would use it to go tot he update site to get the updates, the site would tell me I needed to use IE. Experience shapes how you see things. Your experience was obviously different than mine. So I use IE to get updates and Firefox for everything else. Time to go to Windows update and try it again with FF I guess.
Yeah, I did the same for my Mom, I renamed the Firefox short cut to Internet Explorer and changed the icon as well. I don't think she noticed.
There is nothing wrong with IE being included. The big difference is that OTHER programs can be included.
Buried in the story about the "ballot box" is the REAL story: "In addition, PC manufacturers will be allowed to ship computers with competing Web browsers, as well as or instead of Internet Explorer."
The real deal is that OEM manufactures were NOT ALLOWED TO SHIP A COMPETITOR TO IE. Not at all as long as they wanted to keep their volume discout pricing for Windows. This is the REAL antitrust settlement. Microsoft astroturfers have managed to bury this fact under so much fud about the "browser ballot box" that it is almost hidden even here at Slashdot. Disgusting.