Windows Browser Ballot: the Winners and the Losers

Barence writes "It's a year since the Windows browser ballot came into being in Europe — but has it made any difference? PC Pro has surveyed the minor browser makers — who theoretically had the most to gain from the ballot — to find out what impact it's had on their business. The answers are very mixed. One of the 12, FlashPeak SlimBrowser, claims it's resulted in fewer than 200 downloads per day. Others claim it's transformed their business. One thing is for certain: the big boys still dominate."

Comments

Re:That agrees with my figures

[kevinmenzel]

And since none of the major browser trends changed with the introduction of the Ballot, it also shows that the entire situation was overblown, and that there was a competitive market in place which was (and is) correcting the mistake of leaving IE uncontested for so long.

Re:Link A has more hits than link B

[houghi]

But too many choices will confuse the general public

Yet limiting their choices is NOT an option. I am 'confused' by the amount of stores I can buy things. I am 'confused' by the sorts of food I can buy. Clothes, computers, cars, camera's, women... All things where I am 'confused' by the choice I have.

Yet I rather be confused than somebody else make the choice for me.

Got to love lousy statisticians

[SmallFurryCreature]

Yeah yeah, extrapolating future trends by drawing a straight line between past points. That is SUCH a reliable method.

But hey, good news, by these figures IE will be at 0% in 5 years and Google at well over a 100%.

The browser ballot changed things, would the lines have been as they are now without it? Nobody knows but it is not beyond imagination that IE would have bottomed out 50% instead and might even have climbed with the release of IE9.

Basically, those who claim the ballot did not have an affect are claiming something like the new iPhone had no effect on iPhone sales. The old one was selling well, the new one sells well, ergo no change... because the old one would of course have done the same sale figures without a new release.

Re:Link A has more hits than link B

[nmb3000]

It might have been a bit unfair that MS had a stranglehold on the browser market for those PCs that had Windows pre-installed.

Except that IE's market share was slipping long before the EU felt the need to pointlessly start throwing their weight around.

Choice is good, and it's great that the EU evened the playing field. But too many choices will confuse the general public.

The EU did not level anything. All they did, as you note, is introduce confusion. Anyone who's read much of Raymond Chen's blog knows the thought that goes into initial user experience. Starting off by throwing up dialog boxes and asking the user questions they cannot answer is NOT helpful and just reminds people that computers are hard to use.

Something like 90% of users probably fall into one or two categories when it comes to the stupid browser ballot:

1. Already have a browser they like. Ballot serves no purpose.
2. Have no idea what a "browser" is, and just want to check their email. They click a button randomly, or maybe based on which icon is the prettiest. Ballot still serves no purpose for the user -- all it manages to do is artificially spread around market share to no-name browsers.

Given TFS's saying "The answers are very mixed.", I would guess most fall into the 2nd category. Maybe browsers that haven't seen an improvement should make shinier icons.

Re:I like

[pandrijeczko]

Personally, I think Safari should be lumped in with "Other" because usage of it on Windows is so insignificant.