Administrator Lite Posted April 4, 2010 Administrator Share Posted April 4, 2010 Just when it seemed like Microsoft's European anti-trust tangle on browser choice in Windows was over, trouble is stirring again.Opera Software has told The Reg that it has informed the European Union of a possible problem with a fix that was designed to make Internet Explorer in Windows comply with EU antitrust law. Opera has also informed Microsoft.Opera said the browser-ballot screen Microsoft introduced to Windows so users could pick a browser rather than take Internet Explorer by default is being almost completely hidden by a set of 10 IE configuration screens. Opera illustrated the problem at The Reg's San-Francisco, California, offices with a set of screen shots taken from a Thinkpad X31 running Windows XP SP2.The fear is that PC users will click through these screens and won't bother to then pick one of the five browsers on offer on the browser ballot screen. The ballot offers Chrome, Firefox, Opera, IE, and Safari.In a statement, Microsoft said that Opera's example only applied to a user "very likely" to be opening IE for the first time, which was "unrealistic" in the case of a user already running Windows on their PC.A spokesperson told The Reg: "This scenario is very easy to reproduce in a test lab, but would occur only in unusual cases in the real world. For it to occur with the Browser Choice screen, the user would need to have IE set as their default browser and have never configured it for use. Opera’s example, where a Windows XP user has rejected installation of IE 8 for the year it has been available but suddenly decides to install it is not realistic.”The ballot screen was introduced after a settlement between Microsoft and the EU last year, to close the Commission's investigation of Windows and IE.Hakon Wium Lie, Opera's chief technology officer, said Opera hasn't decided whether to make a formal complaint to the EU, which would re-initiate the investigative machinery. It was Opera's 2007 complaint over browser access in Windows that sparked the investigation and produced the settlement.The Commission has the power to fine Microsoft for not complying with antitrust law. Microsoft was fined $1.39bn (899m euro) in 2008 for not meeting the terms of an earlier antitrust ruling in a separate case in 2004.According to Lie, the ballot screen is now being hidden by the IE configuration wizard when you download IE and the ballot screen in the same update from Microsoft's Windows Update service.The browser choice screen is offered by Microsoft as an automatic download for Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7, to reach PCs already running the operating system rather than new copies of Windows 7 that will be installed fresh.Lie said the problem could be that the browser ballot screen runs in IE, so IE must therefore be configured when it's been downloaded and set up for the first time. View: Original Article Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toshiro Posted April 4, 2010 Share Posted April 4, 2010 Opera should whine about MAC to.. they 2 have safari as default. But they don't whine eh? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrator Lite Posted April 4, 2010 Author Administrator Share Posted April 4, 2010 Good Browser. Bad management. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nooooooooo Posted April 5, 2010 Share Posted April 5, 2010 They honestly need to let this all go! What's next... choice of media player? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HX1 Posted April 5, 2010 Share Posted April 5, 2010 All I can say is if all of this continues and Microsoft gets sued into being what Linux is on default installation or worse.. There is something very sick and wrong about the whole thing..You know these idiots started this off to begin with as if they ( people in general )are too retarded to make their own decision on what software to use.. They ask for a ballot box.. well then they even go about making it backwards compatible.. Hey I know why don't we go back and rewrite DOS so that we can make it compliant there too...NT, 98.. what's next..I hate mobs of ignorant people as much as I hate them in the number of one.. If they are literally that ignorant maybe then they actually need to be given a browser to use by default.. OR WAIT.. I know.. lets take the 1.39 BILLION Dollar and put it in to the F!@#$^%^ education system.. ( anybody following me here ) so these people can learn how to use the command prompt and download the exe for the browser they want by default...after configuring a Python based program to do that.. ( I hate to see the decision making process for a first time user who has never operated a browser to begin with.. or wait would that be chosen for them by someone else configuring the system for them and settings up their LUA :think: ) People scream about never being given an option but they imprison themselves within their own small limited box mentally and well physically in this instance by not knowing how to use a keyboard and a mouse to decide which one they want.. Oh YEAH AND how to switch windows...Someone tell me why in the hell they are using Windows and Microsoft Products to begin with if they are that against everything they are doing? Even if I was a share holder I would be glad to rid the company of these pests..They should strip it all down to the smallest core and install size available.. classic theme.. no extras.. no goodies... MAYBE a command prompt... and Call it.. 'People's Choice Edition' Nothing.. no players.. no Paint, no notepad, Word.. nothing... Let them figure out how to get THEIR own damn browser.. Let then get THEIR OWN choice of Text Editor.. Widget Engine.. Image Editor.. I know people who wouldn't even know how to do it if it was for these programs...Let them figure out how to make it accessible for people with impairments.. ( Ouh wait.. OH MAH GHAWD.. wait they forgot about the brain again .. Oh MAH GHAWD.. quoting MarkyMark I think right there.. )Let them figure out how to configure all of it themselves and build it the way they want each time... :thumbsup: How the hell else are you going to avoid multi-billion dollar lawsuits and who knows how much time and progress in moving forward from being held up like .. at a mugging..Seriously I think they need to get someone who is computer literate on their side to figure out if they have a complaint or if they are actually ruining what Windows is for the rest of the people.. Gold Diggers... is ALL I see.. eventually some generic GPC white label OS...I dunno.. Some days you just want to go up to the top floor open the window and lean out and scream..( to the world ) ' The best part of you... BOY ...ran down your daddy's leg 30 some odd years ago...' .. ' Nothing but a dirty little c@#K stain and Perry Ellis ' ...slam the window and finally walk away with what feels like the weight of a tenth of the world's land-mass has been lifted off your chest..Thats horrible.. I should uninstall Opera right now.. in fact I might... The same way I wouldn't support a company who out-sources their work to slave/sweat shops oversees...or uses mysterious animal products in their condiments.. with huge carbon footprints... inefficient waste of everyone's time is the way I feel about it..I am pro choice on everything .. really.. not pro-dumbf!@#EDIT: Last but not least if this REALLY is an anti-trust issue..I have a suggestion for a complaint.. When I install ANY browser.. I do not want the first thing I see to be a page from their website, their connected through financial means or otherwise.. Search Pages... I don't want to their hosted social networks...file hosting or applications available..I mean I could go anywhere to get those, and how would I ever know if there was something else out there?.. I mean do I really need to know about my rights as a consumer? Do I need to know about the other five versions of your product? What about your addons? Could this be a monopolization of a smaller category of usable products that are being ignored and foreshadowed by this HUGE Browser corporation.. or project? What about the little guys here? All the other options..? Am I being forced to do these things?Ouh.. wait.. yeah.. and Torrent/Magnet URI programmers everywhere... oh man... they so being left in dark..I wonder at what point they realize that the things they do as a convenience and service to their clients.. are quite similar to the product package that is offered? .. and why through marketing, demographical research and you guessed it BILLIONS of dollars spent every year, which is wasted money in this segment.. These items have been included to offer a solution to a usable system for their customer.. to empower them to make these choices, learn what is available, and how to extend this capability .. not just within the package... but through OTHER avenues. Why these things are the way they are...Or is it that they just want Microsoft to have to BUY BILLIONS of dollars in licensing from a wide range of companies and entities to be able to distribute the executables to install something they can choose from?What would you believe they are shooting for here in the end.. :unsure: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atasas Posted April 5, 2010 Share Posted April 5, 2010 They honestly need to let this all go! What's next... choice of media player?Good point!Media is rather outdated term- should be Video/ Audio/ Picture player/manager- Yes! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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