Microsoft will provide browser ballot in Windows 7
- 2
- Add a Comment
Windows 7 is on its way and Microsoft has planned to provide a browser ballot in Windows 7 favored by the European Commission. The browser ballot will let users decide which browser they would like to have and the ballot includes Firefox, Safari, Google Chrome, or they can leave Internet Explorer 8 as their browser.
Microsoft was planning on producing a browserless version of Windows 7 just for Europe but they feared that it would cause confusion for those who are not able to download a browser. Microsoft General counsel Mr. Brad Smith said ” Under our new proposal, European consumers who buy a new windows PC with Internet Explorer set as their default browser would be shown a ‘ballot screen’ from which they could, if they wished, easily install competing browsers from the Web.” But, he added, “PC manufacturers building machines for the European market will continue to ship (browserless) versions of Windows 7 until that the commission fully reviews our proposals and determines whether they satisfy our obligations under European law.”
In my opinion, if the European Commission makes Microsoft produce Windows 7 without a browser, then Windows 7 will be a complete fail; in a recent study, 1/3 of Europeans have never used the web, so if a European is buying his/her first computer, where are they supposed to get a browser? So do you think Europe is taking this a little too far with the whole “monopoly” thing?
2 Comments
Griff
August 15th, 2009
at 3:54pm
Where have you been? The Windows 7 E Edition has been killed. From Microsoft themselves:
“In the wake of last week’s developments, as well as continuing feedback on Windows 7 E that we have received from computer manufacturers and other business partners, I’m pleased to report that we will ship the same version of Windows 7 in Europe in October that we will ship in the rest of the world.
One reason we decided not to ship Windows 7 ‘E’ is concerns raised by computer manufacturers and partners. Several worried about the complexity of changing the version of Windows that we ship in Europe if our ballot screen proposal is ultimately accepted by the Commission and we stop selling Windows 7 ‘E’. Computer manufacturers and our partners also warned that introducing Windows 7 ‘E’, only to later replace it with a version of Windows 7 that includes IE, could confuse consumers about what version of Windows to buy with their PCs.
“
Matthew Medina
August 15th, 2009
at 5:50pm
The EU is stupid making Microsoft unbundle IE, it’s just a browser! and i am sure that the 2/3 of europeans that have used the web will tell the 1/3 to try something else or to just stick with IE. most people i know just use IE to get firefox or another browser. are they going to make Apple unbundle safari? or most distros of Linux unbundle firefox? honestly, does it matter if an OS comes with the most used browser in the world? Microsoft is not the standard!