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Opera Sees "Dramatic" Rise From Microsoft's Ballot

Posted by kdawson on from the fat-lady-warming-up dept.

TheReal_sabret00the notes a TechRadar piece reporting that Opera Software has seen a doubling from normal download numbers on average since Microsoft's browser-choice screen lit up in Europe. The UK saw an 85% increase and for other countries it was larger still: Poland 328%, Spain 215%, and Italy 202%. Hakon Wium Lie, CTO of Opera Software, said "A multitude of browsers will make the web more standardised and easier to browse."

4 of 378 comments (clear)

  1. Give me a break.... by ThisIsAnonymous · · Score: 0, Troll

    I'm not a fan of IE or anything but I still find it a little strange that Microsoft is being required to "promote the competition" in their own product. Perhaps Opera and every browser should be required to have a popup ballot that appears the first time you open the browser telling you about all of the other browsers you could be using. Let's start the insanity...

  2. I still don't understand by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll

    ... why anybody thinks the browser ballet was a good idea in regards to what such a move will mean in the long-term. The *only* reason most people are happy about it is because we hate IE - the only reason we care is because this is specifically about the browsers. Why doesn't Mac OSX have to offer a screen for firefox or chrome instead of defaulting to safari? Why are linux distros allowed to bundle firefox? Why has this only happened for browsers, and not text editors/word processors, etc?

    I "like" the idea of browser ballet in so far as that some IE usage will drop. However, I don't like the idea that government bodies are starting to dictate how a company should handle their software. It sets a dangerous precedent - this is like Apple hand-picking which apps are allowed in the app store, except on a much bigger scale - the EU hand-picking what software can be included on an operating system install. It's ridiculous.

  3. W3C standards won't fly until IE won't comply? by ClosedSource · · Score: 0, Troll

    I think an unstated implicit goal of the W3C standard was to make it as incompatible with IE as possible. The problem these days with many standardization efforts is that the members want to invent new stuff rather than play their traditional role of codifying existing practice.

  4. Re:an anti-swpat company doing well by bunratty · · Score: 0, Troll

    If everybody but me understands why patents are wrong, why do we have patents?

    --
    What a fool believes, he sees, no wise man has the power to reason away.