Remember a couple of months ago, leading up to the release of Windows 7, Microsoft and the EU weren’t getting on too well. All the taboo was basically over small browsers like Opera complaining that Microsoft had the upper hand in the browser industry because they shipped their own software with their own Operating System.
So because Microsoft ship Windows 7 with Internet Explorer set as the default browser, the EU saw this to be affecting competition in this market. So Microsoft came up with a simple solution, don’t ship Windows 7 with any browser. Of course this didn’t really get a good reception so Microsoft came up with the browser ballot screen.
Today they unwillingly announced that the ballot screen would be coming out next week. The UK, Belgium and France will be the first to be shown the screen, which will be rolled out through Windows update to users who are running Internet Explorer as their default browser. A phased roll-out to the rest of Europe will begin from March 1, a couple of weeks ahead of schedule.
We’ll begin a limited roll-out externally next week, and expect that a full scale roll-out will begin around March 1, a couple of weeks ahead of schedule
Said Redmond’s deputy general counsel Dave Heiner in a blog posting.
The browser choice screen software update will be offered as an automatic download through Windows Update for Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7. The software update will be installed automatically, or will prompt you to download or install it, depending on which operating system you are running and your settings for Windows Update.
Windows 7 users will also have Internet Explorer automatically “Unpinned” from the task bar as well. Users will then get a screen warning them that they have “an important choice to make”, before getting the following list of “leading browsers”.
To keep the EU happy, the list is presented in a random order but includes, Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Apple Safari and Opera. There is also another 6 browsers available to choose from if you scroll to the left. You will then be able to find out more information about each browser and also click the big shiny install button beneath each one.
It’s fairly simple and straightforward, but I’m sure Microsoft are a bit peeved by the whole thing. I mean it’s there own Operating System, so they should be allowed to include Internet Explorer with it. Apple do the same with Snow Leopard and Safari and I don’t see anyone going after them….
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