Microsoft lets you chose your browser

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rscole86

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#58795 19-Mar-2010 12:24

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8574883.stm

I wonder if putting Opera first was influenced by the courts/regulators, and if they would have seen the same increase if IE was the first choice?

Ragnor

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#309159 19-Mar-2010 15:04

The order is random each time for the major browsers.

The average user has no idea what each browser does or how they are different, so will likely just pick one pretty much at random. Given before they would just use the default IE, downloads of all the other major browsers should increase.

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amanzi

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#309182 19-Mar-2010 15:56

"Opera says that downloads of its software have doubled" I think that statement shows how irrelevant Opera is on the desktop. I bet there's a reason that they haven't revealed any actual numbers.

There's a bunch of other even less relevant browsers in the list too, including Maxthon (which ironically uses IE's rendering engine), K-meleon, and others which I hadn't even heard of it before. Even Safari is pretty pointless on Windows.

The type of people this ballot screen is designed for, wouldn't even understand what a browser is - they just "click on the internet"

amanzi

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#309200 19-Mar-2010 16:19

It's quite funny reading the description under each browser listed!

Apparently Safari for Windows is the world's most innovative browser - orly?
Opera is the only browser with "Opera Turbo Technology" - duh.
Firefox lists security as their top priority - sounds about right.
Internet Explorer is "the most widely used browser" - true.
Chrome is a "fast new browser" - can't argue with that!

muppet

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#309201 19-Mar-2010 16:19

amanzi: The type of people this ballot screen is designed for, wouldn't even understand what a browser is - they just "click on the internet"

I think that's the idea, so that at least if you have a bunch of muppets clicking on whatever default option is given to them, it still means that IE isn't the single browser that everyone uses.

Might be a bit of a nightmare for tech support people, but it's got to be a good thing for web standards.

amanzi

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#309208 19-Mar-2010 16:25

muppet:
amanzi: The type of people this ballot screen is designed for, wouldn't even understand what a browser is - they just "click on the internet"

I think that's the idea, so that at least if you have a bunch of muppets clicking on whatever default option is given to them, it still means that IE isn't the single browser that everyone uses.

Might be a bit of a nightmare for tech support people, but it's got to be a good thing for web standards.

Yeah, I can't really think of any better way they could have done it. But I would never recommend to a non-technical person to use either Opera or Safari for Windows.

billgates

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#309244 19-Mar-2010 19:19

Europe has pretty stupid anti-trust laws.

Do whatever you want to do man.

Ragnor

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#309448 20-Mar-2010 22:30

billgates: Europe has pretty stupid anti-trust laws.

Yes, why aren't Apple being forced to add a similar screen to Mac OS?

Pretty silly.

old3eyes

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#309504 21-Mar-2010 13:18

Ragnor:
billgates: Europe has pretty stupid anti-trust laws.

Yes, why aren't Apple being forced to add a similar screen to Mac OS?

Pretty silly.

Or the iPhone. I hear that Opera is submitting its fone browsers to the iPhone apps store. Not a chance in hell of Apple allowing it or any other competing browser on the iPhone..

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Old3eyes