ECIS, a lobbyist group with a large number of Microsoft adversaries as members, is calling on regulators worldwide to follow the European Commission (EC) in requiring Microsoft to offer a browser ballot that calls out non-Internet-Explorer options offered to Pc customers.Starting March one, Microsoft started pushing out to European Union users an EC-stipulated browser ballot, which helps make it plain to consumers that although Online Explorer (IE) arrives preloaded on Windows PCs, one can find other browsers available. Microsoft agreed to give the browser ballot to EU consumers operating IE as their default browser on XP, Vista and Windows 7 as component of the settlement take care of the EC in an antitrust situation brought versus Microsoft by browser maker Opera Software.The European Committee for Interoperable Systems (ECIS) — whose members include Opera, Adobe, Corel,
microsoft Office 2010 Serial, IBM,
Office 2010 Professional Key, Nokia, Oracle, RealNetworks and Red Hat — is pushing for regulatory agencies in other countries to require Microsoft to deliver the browser ballot to users outside with the EC.“Microsoft agreed to change its business practices in the face of formal charges from the Commission. Buyers deserve the same unbiased browser choice on all the world’s more than 1 billion personal computers,” said the ECIS in a March 2 press release.Given that Opera is a single of ECIS; members, it;s not too surprising that ECIS is making various of the same arguments Opera did when it lodged its browser-bundling complaint in opposition to Microsoft at the finish of 2007. More from the ECIS press release:“Microsoft has bundled its own World wide web Explorer Internet browser with Windows and most users accept it instead of trolling the Web for alternatives. Because Windows runs on 90 percent of the world’s computers, that bundling has slowed innovation in browsers. During the first years of this century,
Microsoft Office 2010 Home And Business, it ground almost to a halt when there was little competition.“World-wide-web Explorer, which runs only on Windows,
Microsoft Office 2010 Standard, sometimes uses special laptop or computer coding. Net pages created to those special standards will not run properly on other Net browsers, making it necessary to use a Microsoft system to read them.”As I;ve said before,
Cheap Office 2007, I think the browser ballot is a good thing. While IT professionals and power users know you will find choices other than IE around and know how to get alternative browsers, a number of non-tech-savvy Computer people do not.That said, to me, it would be a waste of time and money for other regulatory bodies to have to hear cases brought by Microsoft;s competitors in order for the ballot screen to become a globally offering. Unfortunately, I don;t see Microsoft proactively offering the browser ballot to customers worldwide — especially not while its total browser market share continues to slide…Do you see any upsides (or downsides) to the Softies offering the ballot screen to end users worldwide? I;ve heard from a couple of EU buyers that they think Microsoft has structured the ballot poorly, making it difficult for consumers who do basically want IE to get it. Anyone else having that same experience?