Slashdot Mirror
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?"
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.
Makers of x86 applications should have been mandated to produce a (Generic) Linux, Windows, and OSX port of all their software.
that will swiftly and very effectively kill off most FOSS projects, as OSS developers do so as a hobby, and often have no clue about the operating system they DONT use.
VLC FOR MAC IS DYING! IF YOU DEVELOP, PLEASE SAVE IT!!
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?
I think the reasoning is that it's not illegal to have this sort of monopoly (on OSes), but it's illegal to abuse it in such a way that you leverage it in order to dominate other markets, like browsers. Since they leveraged the Windows monopoly to make IE a dominant browser, the government is focusing their anti-trust efforts on browser choice specifically. At least that's what I think their reasoning is, though I'm no lawyer.
It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education. - Einstein
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.
I disagree. The really bad news is that this let's microsoft off the hook completely for the mess they have created.
No matter which browser you choose on this ballot, IE is still going to be present on your machine and ready for internal idiots or external criminals to use. This changes nothing whatsoever.
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.
It's one thing when people who feel they have the requisite knowledge choose to locate an alternative browser and install it. If every user had to use Google to locate what they thought might be a web browser and then attempt to install it successfully, a significant percentage would go straight off the cliff.
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.
I don't think that's the stupidest thing I've ever heard.... but it's damn close.
...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();
Why should it? The OS doesn't belong to the US government. It belongs to Microsoft. If they want to make the default browser IE, it's their business. If you don't like it, use Ubuntu. I don't like IE, but even more I don't like the government pretending that they own everything.