Windows 7 browser ballot close to approval
Microsoft has agreed to a couple more tweaks to its browser ballot for European users of Windows. If approved, the system could be on new machines sold later this month.
The browser ballot is an attempt — which looks extremely likely to succeed — to answer European Union concerns that Microsoft unfairly exploits its ability to promote Internet Explorer by including it with Windows.
The EU had already backed the principle of Microsoft’s solution, by which users will be offered a choice of the 12 most popular browsers in Europe during the initial Windows set-up, with the ability to install as many or as few as they choose.
The original plan meant that the five most popular browsers would be listed first (with other likely only available by scrolling ‘off screen’) in alphabetical order. While the obvious assumption there was that Chrome would appear first, the proposed ordering turned out to include manufacturer’s name, so “Apple Safari” would appear first.
Opera, which was one of the key forces pushing for the original investigation, objected to that idea as it would always appear in fifth place. Microsoft has now agreed to randomize the order of the five browsers each time somebody uses the system.
In another concession to its rivals, Microsoft has also announced that the ballot screen will appear as a standalone page. Originally it had been designed to appear as a Web page viewed through Internet Explorer (complete with IE labeling and logos), but rivals complained that would undermine the neutrality of the process.
Assuming regulators approve of the revised plan, it could get official backing as early as Dec. 15, at which point it appears the investigation would be considered closed. Once the plan gets approval, Microsoft will have two months before the ballot screen must appear on all copies of Windows sold in Europe.
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