Dear European Windows user, please select your browser

[Refalm]

If you're an European, and you're currently using Windows with Internet Explorer, then get ready to have more choice!

Neelie Kroes, the formerly corrupt VVD-bitch, has ordered Microsoft to direct users to this website on first start-up:


Read more here

It's also fun to notice that most users choose Opera in that screen, since a lot of people have Opera pre-installed on their mobile, smartphone or Wii, and they recognise Opera faster as a brand name than Internet Explorer.
"Opera made an awesome browser for my LG smartphone, so a desktop version should be awesome too."

[Aloone_Jonez]

I find it funny that the article linked to is by someone who's against this.

I think that Google Chrome will also be popular because everyone's heard of Google.

What about going further, perhaps OEMs should be forced to offer computers with other operating systems installed or no operating system?

I'd like another browser to become more popular, there has to be more choice than just IE or Firefox, Id like Opera or Chrome to have a considerable market share too.

[piratePenguin]

Eh, the Opera brand is worth nil.

Google and Firefox, however...

From what I've seen, Mozilla are making a big deal out of this and the rest aren't. They've done surveys in European countries to find out awareness levels about this browser screen, they've launched a website to elaborate why a browser choice is an important choice. Mozilla takes a lot of initiative to win market share and that's why they are the dominant alternative browser, and even though other browsers clearly may have edges on a technical level, 2010 is the year that Mozilla keeps playing its community card, the card that noone knows how to beat. The card that beat Microsoft up, and even if Mozilla takes serious knocks in the next few years, which I believe is unlikely, we can all thank them for Making a Better Web, because if they didn't, there may be only one browser and two operating systems.

So you would be wise to listen and to spread the word.

[worker201]

Who chose what order they would be shown in?  Does that make any difference?

[Aloone_Jonez]

They're displayed in random order.

[Lead Head]

Yeah, if you go to browserchoice.eu, and hit refresh the order changes each time.

[reactosguy]

Flip.

Microsoft can't do this for the whole world using Windows 7 and IE 8? Ridiculous.

I thought Steve Ball(s)mer was going to do that.

If only Mozilla sold their software for free as well.

[Refalm]

Microsoft can't do this for the whole world using Windows 7 and IE 8? Ridiculous.

It's kind of an embarrassment to them. Microsoft will never do the right thing, unless they're ordered so by a large country or union. If only Denmark or Germany had ordered them for example, they would have fought it to the bone.

[Aloone_Jonez]

Any government could just tell Microsoft that if they don't adhere to their demands they'll ban the sale of their products or void the copyright protection of their software, opening the door for shameless piracy. This wouldn't happen in real life because trade agreements exist between different countries and the US which would stop this kind of thing.

[Calum]

and also because virtually everybody working as a civil servant anywhere has got the microsoft fear (i mean, they think it's impossible to exist without having ms windows, and/or IE installed on every computer, they just can't understand any other possibility).

[worker201]

I think the enterprise IT way of doing things is "pick one and stick with it forever".  And the decision to go with IE was probably made during the first browser war, before Mozilla/Firefox.  The decision to go with Windows was made even earlier - Linux probably didn't even exist yet.  Interestingly, there's still graphic design and layout companies who use Macs only because it was decided 20 years ago that Macs were good for graphics.  I suppose there is something to be said for tradition...

[Refalm]

I think the enterprise IT way of doing things is "pick one and stick with it forever".

Its more a case of Problem Management (ITIL) having not that many calls. And that a respectable company wants at least a CMMI level of 2.

Those two requirements make sure that changes in the IT infrastructure don't happen, very often.
Companies will only select another operating system or application sets if that clearly improves overall processes.

In the case of switching from IE to Firefox, that means infrastructure management have to make changes to application distribution, the whole service-desk department has to be instructed to deliver support, and the users need proper instruction.
A whole new operating system radically different from the former one means a complete overhaul. The changes made to the company to use Linux generally don't outweigh all the work the IT department has to perform to maintain and fix all the bullshit that Windows gives them.

It's like changing from petrol to gas in your car. Once you have gas, it's far more superior to petrol, but getting a gas tank in your car means a significant investment.

[Lead Head]

Isn't another issue is that most 3rd party windows browsers in IT environments is that they cannot have updates "pushed" like IE can?

[worker201]

Not wanting to go through the hell of having to orchestrate the retraining and process updating of the IT support workflow is the main reason why enterprise IT likes to pick one and stick with it.

The company I used to work for had a series of gas chromatographs, which were made by HP and run by HP computers that ran Windows 98.  These computers were slow and problematic and shitty in all respects.  But we were locked in - upgrading to a new computer required upgrading to newer software, and the newer software was not compatible with the old gas chromatographs.  So upgrading from Windows 98 to Windows XP would have cost us $75000 for 3 machines.  Sad thing was that there was nothing wrong with the old gas chromatographs, they still had 5 more years of life left in them.  Needless to say, the company was reluctant to do it.  But the computer support costs of trying to deal with 3 Win98 boxes have probably outpaced the cost of replacing 3 perfectly good gas chromatographs.

Isn't petrol just a synonym for gasoline?  That part confused the hell out of me.

[Refalm]

Isn't petrol just a synonym for gasoline?  That part confused the hell out of me.

Petrol is a synonym for gasoline, I was looking for the English translation for "benzine".

By "gas", I meant Liquefied Petroleum Gas.