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How Europe's Mandated Browser Ballot Screen Works
CWmike writes "After an 11-month legal face-off, Microsoft and European antitrust officials signed off yesterday on the ballot screen concept that will give Windows users a chance to download rivals' browsers. But now that the battle's over and the ink has dried, it's time to look closely. Some FAQ examples: What's Microsoft promised? How will it work? How many browsers will be on the ballot? Who decides which browsers? Who will see it?"
Why don't you just write the rest of it and not just one menu.
Their they're doing there hair.
the inevitable First post joke.
---jstlook ---For that is the way of Elves, for they say both yes AND no, and mean every word of it. --- J.R.R.T.
Ya know, if you are going to go for the cheap one line first post you might as well make the joke yourself. At least that way you'll get a few funny mods on your way to the /dev/null of -1
Let me try one: In Soviet Russia, EU anti-trusts YOU.
I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
*cough* Lingua::EN::Inflect *cough*
Write a 'Portable Application" that is not integrated with Windows System files to web browse to any web site and download any file and then run it. Default the startup page to a Google search for "web browsers" and let the user pick which link to follow and download. Then the 'Portable Application" can be deleted if the user so desires.
I would suggest that the 'Portable Application" be a FOSS web browser like Firefox and licensed from the Mozilla Foundation to work as a one time downloader. Then all web browsers have that annoying feature to detect that it is not the "Default browser" and ask the user to make it default and sets the default to "Yes and never ask again" so the user picks a web browser, downloads it, make it default and then if they want they can download a different web browser later on.
The whole DOJ and EU problem with Windows is that IE is the built in default web browser that is integrated with Windows system files so it cannot be removed. Just make the Windows 7 N-edition versions with the temp 'Portable Application" web browser that can download whatever web browser the user wants and give a system message that a temp web browser will be loaded to find a suitable web browser the user can download and install and then set as default.
That is just about as simple as you can make it. If you make the third part web browsers part of the Windows 7 install DVD they will be old versions and prone to vulnerabilities and skip some FOSS web browsers and any other web browser that comes out after the Install DVD is made.
Remember, Slashdot does not have a -1 disagree moderation, and no, troll, flamebait, and overrated are not substitutes.
My computer experience tells me you've got two kinds of users. Idiots and non-idiots. The former category is a lost cause and will just use IE anyway because that's what they know. The latter category is already smart enough to procure an alternate browser without the help of a splash screen.
I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
Very odd off-by-one?
The proper solution would have been for Windows to go back to the while idea of there being a "Windows Explorer" and an "Internet Explorer". Like 95 had. Windows explorer (explorer.exe) just ran the GUI Shell. The Ballot screen would be a small program that downloads the programs and installs them.
But that really wouldn't have dented MS's near-monopoly.
If governments really wanted to give MS a run for its money, the following stigma would have had to be made:
Makers of x86 applications should have been mandated to produce a (Generic) Linux, Windows, and OSX port of all their software. That means Quicken, that means Adobe, that means, everyone else. Makers of hardware needed to be mandated to make a Windows, Linux, and OSX driver for their device. Before the fanboys who talk about how the Linux Kernel changes so much, Nvidia does this very well with the Dynamic Kernel Management (DKMS) Shim. And the rest of their driver stays closed source. So we know this works annd can be done.
The bad news is that, the screen is to appear only for users in Europe. I hope the US anti-trust takes hint a from their European counterparts and mandate in the US too.
I really think the EU is missing the point in this "anti-trust" case: the fact that the consumer doesn't have a choice in what OS comes with his computer doesn't bother anyone?
No, no sig. Really.
ThePromenader
Their hegemonic empire will not be torn down in the name of equality if Lynx isn't included in the list of choices. They should also be forced to include alternatives to Paint and Notepad. That they have the audacity to continue bundling these applications is a slap to the face of every righteous EU official. They may also want to look into rumors that Apple is bundling a single web browser into their own OS at the expense of other meritorious alternatives.
I am becoming gerund, destroyer of verbs.
Printable ad free no-karma-whore link to the article.
In Soviet Russia, the joke waits for you!
Thats MS's desire. Its been shown that when people are overwhelmed with choices they go with what they know.
Ballot? It's a menu.
Nice choice of words trying to spin this as a democratic / freedom / choice thing.
It's simply MS being forced to help their competition.
Whether or not you agree with the reasoning behind it is irrelevant - there's no reason to call a simple fucking menu a ballot.
I believe that IE should be the only browser provided by MS, and no menu should be forced upon them. But IE should be completely removable (in Vista and 7 not XP; XP needs it for updates) via the ol' add/remove windows components thing. Leave the files around by default, just uninstall the thing. Hateful users can delete the actual files too, and then pop in the installation disc if they want to re-add it later.
Apps that die because they depend on IE being installed? Well, you simply can't make everyone happy in this scenario. Eventually that problem will go away.
But this is a menu.
Not a ballot.
The problem is they don't want a choice. There are plenty of other operating systems for PCs, Linux of course being the one everyone around here would think about. However consumers don't seem to want any of those. There is just next to zero demand for Linux on desktop systems. Companies have tried it, and their sales have been abysmal. Workstations and servers are a different story, and indeed you find it often IS an option. However on the desktop, people want Windows.
Your point is very valid indeed.
Also, where are the news posts about Apple being sued for it's operations regaring:
1) The iphone monopoly per provider per country
2) The appstore
3) Various applications in OS X
It feels like the EU actions are very one-sided.
People bitch and bitch, look paint/notepad/IE/any shitty MS product comes bundled with the OS because it makes sense! Just like OSX comes loaded with a ton of shit and Linux distro's do the same, why? Because shit works better that way! Duh!
Yes IE blows, and MS fixed it for the most part... I bet it runs pretty smoothly in windows based OS's, Same why my Linux distro comes with FF3.0.15 instead of whatever it is now, why? Probably cause it is the most compatible, meaning it will work the best with my OS. I can change my browser but why? It works great, I can use all the plugins I like to have all in all my system is stable aslong as I keep to specific distro based app's. Just like if you use a windows box with strictly MS apps and MS certified hardware. Same with Apple.
Dont bitch when your shit works! Be happy! If you dont like MS go to Apple, or Linux easy as that! Suing businesses to push your shitty software should be a wake up call! If you software sucks that much that you have to sue to get it out there, then try making better software!
Visit my Forums?
...and yet you suddenly forget, on Slashdot, that other browsers had a hard time largely due to practices of MS.
And no, it isn't a case of "well, but only Opera has such pitiful market share of all the alternatives" BS. You seem to also forget that Europe is not US; there are countries here where Opera is far ahead of FF, for example. And Safari generally doesn't exist.
One that hath name thou can not otter
Opera far ahead of FFand Safari doesn't exist? Either name those countries or imma call bullshit on this one.
Ahh, yes, because it's so hard to imagine the world is not homogeneous...
Ukraine, Opera is the number one browser with 35%, ahead of IE:
http://www.ranking.com.ua/en/rankings/web-browsers-groups.html
Russia, number one among alternatives to IE, with 27%
http://www.rankingru.com/en/rankings/web-browsers-groups.html
And in most of the countries in ma backyard, flags of which you can see at the top of above webpages, it is between 5 and 10%, quite respectable.
And in all except one Safari almost doesn't exist, with sub 1% share.
One that hath name thou can not otter
Always proofread carefully to see if you any words out.
Where is Apple monopoly in the Smartphone or OSX apps market?
Dilbert RSS feed
...for most users I'd imagine. The number of people I've seen close Norton/McAfee messages that say "For Gods' sake man, you're trial-ware virus subscription have expired - your computer could literally be ass-raped any minute!" leads me to think most users won't give a shit about other browsers.
What happens if you close the ballot screen? Nothing I suspect. This'll just be a case of all but mildly technically curious people closing it and clicking the blue "E" anyway.
Anyway, after all this I think it's for the good. If nothing else it makes Apple seem a little more evil; I hope all the fanbois realise the same shake-down will happen to their beloved MacOS X should ever come close to the domination it apparently deserves.. Anyway, I for one don't miss the days of pure IE domination & 'marque' tags floating around, so again this is a good thing.
throw new NoSignatureException();
Nonsense, there is no such thing in "Europe" because each country has its own system! Europe is not a country, not even the EU member states have central administration for transplants. You are just making things up.
You cannot possibly claim 80-90% participation when there is no European common ground on transplants. And there certainly is NO "opt out" system in Europe as a whole. There are only national systems! Your claim is an outright lie. I also checked with the European Transplant Coordinators Organisation.
Further research shows that just within the EU (27 out of 50 countries in Europe) there are wildly different figures. The Nordic countries show a high degree of willingness to donate organs, but there is still no opt-out system. In fact you absolutely have to choose to opt-in and get a donor card!
I quote from the European Union's report on organ donations: "Donation rates and transplantation activity varies widely between the Member States, ranging from 33.8 deceased donors per million of population (pmp) in Spain to 1 deceased donor per million population in Romania. Only Spain and few others Member States have succeeded in increasing significantly the number of donors. These increases are linked to the introduction of better organisational practices".
http://ec.europa.eu/health/ph_threats/human_substance/oc_organs/docs/fact_figures.pdf
Each country in Europe has its own system, there is no general opt-out system at all. That is just fiction without any basis. Each country and culture has very different laws, rules and customs, and organ donations are no different.
Check out the European Union's (not Europe in general) report on organ donations:
http://ec.europa.eu/health/ph_threats/human_substance/oc_organs/docs/fact_figures.pdf
To quote the report: "Currently, demand for organs exceeds their availability in all EU Member States and demand increases faster than organ donation rates in most Member States".
In other words the user will have already been using the machine for some time, they will have got used to clicking the IE icon and ... this pesky ballot appears ... oh, well, these mysterious things happen, just wait for it to complete ... go back to using IE as he was used to.
This should have been included at first boot time, along with asking you for your timezone, etc.
Some program on the computer will fire up IE instead of the default browser, and IE makes itself the default browser like it always has. Nothing's changed.
Nae king! Nae laird! Nae yurrupiean pressedent! We willna be fooled again!
How many browsers will be on the ballot? Twelve altogether, but just five on the first page.
The first five are Apple's Safari, Google's Chrome, Microsoft's IE, Mozilla's Firefox and Opera. On a second screen, the ballot will list AOL, Maxthon, K-Meleon, Flock, Avant Browser, Sleipnir and SlimBrowser.
Seriously? They should just have stuck with the first five. Plus IE will *still* be installed by default, so this won't solve anything.
Most human behaviour can be explained in terms of identity.
Nice try. 1) actually happened in France and we now have a choice of our iPhone provider. Also, other companies than Microsoft have been tried by the EU. It's just that Microsoft is generating more headlines.
"How will it work? According to the Commitments document that was the basis of the agreement between Microsoft and the EU (download Word document)"
Download "Word document". wtf!
This shows how government works. This issue was important when Netscape had significant market share and MS just brought out IE. They used their OS dominance to kill Netscape as a company, and that is when the anti-monopoly police should have stepped in and taken swift action. Of course they have used the monopoly to dominate the office suite market and to horn in Exchange, MSSQL and now Sharepoint. The original DOJ solution of breaking up MS and forcing the OS and the office suite to stand on their own was the real solution to this issue. I would have added a third company specializing in enterprise software to the mix. What I really want is to separate the purchase of hardware from the purchase of software. When I buy a computer I don't want to chose between twelve versions of windows, I want some Linux options, or a least a no OS option.
In Soviet Russia, the joke' s on you.
Here be signatures
"For each of the usage share sources listed in Annex D, web browser usage share will be determined semi-annually by averaging monthly usage share data for the previous six months for which such data is available, with shares for different released versions of the same vendor’s browsers added together to determine a browser’s total usage share (e.g., Firefox 2.0, 3.0, 3.5, etc. all count towards the total share for “Mozilla Firefox”). No more than one browser will be listed per vendor. Other than Internet Explorer, the Choice Screen may not contain any web browser which is based on Internet Explorer’s rendering engine and the development or distribution of which is funded in whole or in substantial part by Microsoft." so IE-engine based browsers are not an option. (+1 Microsoft) See: http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/presskits/eu-msft/docs/Microsoft%20Commitments.doc
Maybe the option was that Microsoft would pay the web designer customers the BILLIONS that special-case handling of the hill of poop called IE 6 inflicted upon them, and the setback to the web look that their feet-dragging in supporting CSS properly has caused...
Imagine if everyone used Paint instead of Photoshop? People already use it because they do not know of free, better-featured alternatives there either, but bitmap graphics software is not as important to world trade as the browser is.
The two type of users are
- The ones that know they do not know much.
- The ones that think they know more than others, but know as little as the ones in the first group.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
People in the IT industry are the only ones I know that deride their users, the people that actually justify paying for IT services.
If people are closing anti-virus renewal enticements it is maybe because the price seems excessive, or the product is not working as expected, or the renewal process it too intrusive and cumbersome.
The user should always be the last person to be blamed, specially when general patterns of behaviour are recognized, which would point to an inability from the part of the service provider.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.