Microsoft To Offer Range Of Web Browers

[nsane.forums]

Microsoft has agreed to offer Windows users a choice of up to 12 web browsers rather than just its own Internet Explorer in a deal to avoid hefty fines.

View: Original Article

[DKT27]

EU resolves Microsoft IE antitrust case

European Commission settles antitrust case against Microsoft over Internet Explorer. New Choice Screen will allow users to pick other default browsers.

Microsoft's Browser Choice Screen

Microsoft and the European Commission have settled their differences over the choice of Web browsers in Windows.

European Commissioner for Competition Policy Neelie Kroes on Wednesday formally announced a resolution to the Internet Explorer antitrust case against Microsoft. As part of the settlement, Windows PCs sold in the European Economic Area will now present users with a Choice Screen, allowing them to install alternative browsers beyond Internet Explorer.

The Choice Screen will offer users the ability to install up to 12 of the most widely used Web browsers that run under Windows. The choices will include the more widely known browsers, such as IE, Apple's Safari, Google's Chrome, Mozilla's Firefox, Opera, and AOL's browser, and lesser-known products including Maxthon, K-Meleon, Flock, Avant Browser, Sleipnir, and Slim Browser.

Users can download as many of the browsers as they wish or stick with Internet Explorer. Additionally, computer makers and users in Europe will be able to turn off IE totally and set up other browsers as the default. As part of the settlement, Microsoft is also prohibited from preventing the choice of different browsers through any contractual or technical means.

Microsoft initially proposed stripping a browser out of Windows 7 entirely, a move first reported by CNET. Both competitors and the EU balked at that idea though, instead favoring some sort of ballot screen. Microsoft eventually relented, though the company and its rivals have gone back and forth for a while over the details.

Based on feedback it received, Microsoft modified and improved its design, according to the EC. The screen now appears in a neutral window, rather than an Internet Explorer window, and displays the browsers in a random order. The screen itself looks cleaner and less cluttered to the EC, which it believes will help users better focus on making their browser choice.

An important choice to make...

As part of the overall setup, Microsoft will continue to include IE in Windows but give PC makers the ability to install a different default browser. The Choice Screen will pop up the first time consumers use the default browser, allowing them to pick a different one if they prefer.

Microsoft has promised to make the screen available for five years in the European Economic Area and to offer it for Windows XP, Vista, and Windows 7, according to Europe's antitrust regulators.

"Millions of European consumers will benefit from this decision by having a free choice about which web browser they use," said Kroes. "Such choice will not only serve to improve people's experience of the internet now but also act as an incentive for web browser companies to innovate and offer people better browsers in the future."

Starting six months from now, Microsoft must report regularly to the Commission on its progress in implementing the new commitments, and the Commission can review the commitments two years from now.

After the EU announced the news, Microsoft issued its own statement on the resolution of the long-running, and expensive, antitrust case.

"We are embarking on a path that will require significant change within Microsoft. Nevertheless, we believe that these are important steps that resolve these competition law concerns," Microsoft general counsel Brad Smith said in the statement. "This is an important day and a major step forward, and we look forward to building a new foundation for the future in Europe."

The U.S. Justice Department, which waged its own years-long antitrust battle with Microsoft, applauded the outcome of the EU's case.

"As we understand it, the settlement is based on measures to enhance competition and is designed to preserve industry participants' incentives and ability to compete going forward. A settlement that helps to clarify obligations under European law allows the industry to move forward," Christine Varney, assistant attorney general in the Justice Department's antitrust division, said in a statement.

Source - CNET

[Bizarre™]

That's a good decision ^_^

[Night Owl]

This sounds like a very reasonable solution. And good that the information is no longer presented in an Internet Explorer window.

And good that I don't live in Europe, so I didn't have to see any of this when I installed Windows 7. :D

[karachidude]

December 16, 2009

EU approves Microsoft ballot screen

Choice of web browser available for next five years

Peter Sayer

The EU has accepted Microsoft's 'ballot screen' offer, which will allow Windows users to choose the web browser they want, ending the commission's antitrust investigation.

The company will 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.

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.

The Commission informed Microsoft of its objections to the company's practice of tying Internet Explorer to its Windows operating systems on January 15 this year.

By exploiting its dominant position in the operating system market, Microsoft prevented other software browsers from competing on their merits.

However, the commission said the new choice screen will enable such competition.

Now that the commission has accepted Microsoft's proposal, it becomes legally binding.

If Microsoft fails to deliver, it could face a fine of up to 10 percent of its worldwide turnover, under EU antitrust law.

The commission will review the situation regularly to ensure that the choice screen is achieve the desired result, and may require Microsoft to make changes, it said.

Jon von Tetzchner, CEO of Opera Software, which filed the complaint that started the investigation, said: "This is a victory for the future of the web. This decision is also a celebration of open standards, as these shared guidelines are the necessary ingredients for innovation on the web".

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