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Dear EU: Please quit whining about browsers already
We get it. You (and a number of competitors) think Microsoft needs to do something more substantial than allow users to uninstall/disable/burn down Internet Explorer. Your latest fabulous idea? A download dashboard, which will present a number of browsers from which the consumer is free to choose. How Utopian!
So I presume this dashboard will include all kinds of browsers, like Maxthon, Flock, Arora, Lunascape, SRWare Iron, Kmeleon, and QTWeb, right? After all, including only big non-IE names like Firefox, Chrome, Safari, and Opera isn't really fair to the little guys. There's a big ol' list at Wikipedia if you need to see all the options the dashboard should include.
I'll also assume that this dashboard will be mandatory for all operating systems. Apple and Linux users probably need to be told they have a choice, too.
Oh, and devices like cell phones, PDAs, and MIDs usually only have one browser out-of-the-box, so make sure you put a stop to that as well.
You'll also need to tell Apple that they have to allow non-Webkit browsers on the iPhone and iPod touch, because that's unfair to browsers based on other rendering engines.
Because really, if you're not going to do all those things, it's time to shut up about this issue and quit singling out Microsoft.
[via Slashdot]
Comments
57
Subscribe to commentssepiriothMay 31st 2009 10:17AM
you either:
a) accomplished nothing with that article other then making a REAL good point.
b) need to leave the country asap, all the apple fan boys are gonna gun for you if the EU doesn't stop whining but instead comes after the rest (which we all know would never happen, MS was just an easy target when all this started due to their dominance in pure quantity of their OS being out there).
That said, I agree with you 100%, its ridicolous that tax money is spent on this kind of bs.
HexDSLMay 31st 2009 10:18AM
yes thats nice, write an artice that takes the focus away from the fact that the market leader in PC software has an unfair monopoly on internet .
its about giving people OPTIONS not moaning for no reason, and Linux comes with about 5 browsing options preinstalled, im fairly sure that even Max OS makes it know that FireFox is an alternative to Safari.
stop taking the piss and support freedom (also i DO use IE, i like it)
BranMay 31st 2009 8:17PM
You have an option to buy any computer you want you also have the choice to download a new web browser.
I would understand if microsoft blocked all access to all other browsers but it doesnt.
I dont care about other browsers if IE comes bundled then that will do me.
I DONT SEE THE POINT IN ALL THIS!
sylv3rbladeMay 31st 2009 11:00PM
Ok genius. How on earth will you download your choice of browser if it's only available on the net and you're stuck on a computer without one?
jacksinfulJun 1st 2009 2:44AM
Yes. I agree with this comment entirely.
This editor should stop whining.
JamesJun 16th 2009 12:42AM
Wow, I was going to ask you to send us a picture of the time Microsoft sent armed goons to your house to make you buy Windows, but then I realized that if they're smart they'd take your camera before they left. What was I *thinking*?
r3loadedMay 31st 2009 10:22AM
QFT. Plus, I don't want my next version of Windows bloated with a million different browsers, all of them obsolete as newer versions are available to download.
SamMay 31st 2009 10:55AM
Say "QFT" without quoting one more time [expletive].
I dare you.
r3loadedMay 31st 2009 11:12AM
Ok then,
QFT :)
MimzyMay 31st 2009 10:33AM
I think that IE should be easily uninstallable like any other application. But that's all. If people are too stupid to know that other browsers exist, it's not the job of the government or a regulating agency to protect them from their own stupidity.
leoMay 31st 2009 11:34AM
It's not that easy to just uninstall IE from windows, because lots of application use IE when they need to call for a web site to show up on their app.
RigfhtPaddockMay 31st 2009 8:48PM
Leo, that's a problem (arguably a bug, certainly a defect) with the apps that starts IE, any half decent app that wants a browser will just start the default browser.
hazardJun 1st 2009 5:01AM
IE cannot and never will be removed from Windows. However, Windows allows you to turn off or on the "IE feature" so it won't operate as a standalone app - this has been available since Win2K. IE will always be available as a Type Library or ActiveX plugin regardless of whether the IE feature is on or off.
As for Browser Bundling I think the EU should take it even further and make every commercialised OS support this. You want peoples to pay money for your OS then provide them with adequate browser choice.
If the EU are really serious about this then they should work with an independant org like EFF in creating a web service that every commercialised OS needs to use as a part of it's install/config process. Internet access not available then fall back to bundled/shipped version.
TordreMay 31st 2009 10:35AM
*applause*
Thank you sir, I am not in the EU but i agree fully, The EU has made microsoft do some crazy shit in the past, XPn for example.
This dashboard sounds like 2 things,
i) stupid for a closed source opperating system (to be provided by the manufacturer, why should they have to deal with others release cycles),
ii) allot like a package manager for linux.
Yes i would like a package manager for windows, it would cut down on every app having their own updater running in the background. But the EU's reason for it is flawed and will be yet another arbitrary resource running in the background.
Odds are the EU will also ask Microsoft make it impossible to uninstall, so it will be a resource whore package manager that cannot be removed, and only deals with one type of application. (Giving users another reason to complain to Microsoft)
At least in windows 7 you can completely remove IE, I will also be honest it took me a while to do this because I liked how every tab had a preview in the task bar. So I am back to good old firefox.
Another point is that everyone who has a geeky/nerdy friend has already learned of the benefits of a different browser. Many still hold on to IE because of familiarity.
Matt McNMay 31st 2009 10:58AM
Linux distros and Apple already show you alternative browsers, in Linux it's via the package manager and Apple link to them on their downloads page. Also, non-WebKit browsers are allowed into the App Store IIRC.
However, regardless of all that, the EU are still nutjobs with this idea. Didn't this start off as Microsoft getting told off for integrating IE too deeply into the system so that it couldn't be removed? I was in support of that, and Microsoft fixed it for Windows 7. Case closed. What's this new idea for?
RigfhtPaddockMay 31st 2009 8:52PM
Because the folks at the EU hate successful non-EU businesses.
Perhaps Mercedes should give me the choice of installing a Toyota engine!
master811Jun 4th 2009 4:20PM
@RigfhtPaddock
In case you need some examples of EU companies being fined:
Saint-Gobain (900m euros)
ThyssenKrupp (500m)
Hoffmna-La Roche (500m)
Siemens (400m)
Pilkington (400m)
BASF (300m)
Otis (300m)
KarlWMay 31st 2009 11:01AM
Way to get your opinions from Neowin rather than getting the information from the source. The EU is still "whining" about browsers because Microsoft's competitors are still "whining" to the EU that Microsoft is breaching antitrust law.
And by antitrust law, I don't mean it's simply "unfair". Lots of things are unfair. Antitrust law is much more specific: Microsoft's competitors are saying that Microsoft is leveraging their monopoly in one market (desktop OSes) in order to give themselves a monopoly in another market (desktop browsers). All of your other points are irrelevant as Apple and Linux do not hold monopolies in these areas or competitors have not complained to the EU about them.
You're accusing the court for the cases that are brought up inside it. These are anecdotal complaints rather than lawsuits, but the sample principle applies - the EU isn't doing the accusing, Microsoft's competitors are.
CharaxMay 31st 2009 1:52PM
See this? This is an intelligent, well-researched comment from someone in possession of the facts.
In many ways, it is the antithesis of the article it's replying to.
Ntw1103May 31st 2009 11:01AM
Good Article! :)
I personally think that as long as other browsers are allowed to be installed it is fine with me...
It should also be noted that Opera was the driving force behind this. They wouldn't stop 'pestering' the EU. because of this I actually stopped using opera. I don't think any company should act like that.
truthfully I don't like being forced to download anything. and I wouldn't want a Microsoft installer to install anything for me. (I install to my own dir, not program files) so in the end, I would probably pick ie, because I don't care if the install gets put where I don't want it.
then I would install my own browser after that.