If you have followed the news you know that Microsoft is going to introduce the browser choice screen, often also called browser ballot screen, to European users from March 2010 on. Microsoft plans to run an external test in some European countries including England and Belgium first and will expand the delivery to all countries of the European Union.
The browser choice screen will be delivered via Windows Update. Computer systems with automatic update turned on will automatically download the update to the computer system.
The browser screen will be displayed on the next reboot if the user logging on is using Microsoft’s Internet Explorer as the default browser.
The program will then unpin Internet Explorer from the taskbar and display information about the process along with the browser choice screen that displays the top five web browsers in the world in random order plus additional web browsers that become visible after scrolling vertically. The top five browsers are Internet Explorer, Firefox, Google Chrome, Opera and Safari. It is not yet clear what the other browsers are.
A browser can then be installed from the browser choice screen. It is furthermore possible to display additional information about a web browser.
There are two problems associated with the process. The first is that the update is forced upon the users meaning that many Windows users will notice that their “Internet” is gone. With Internet we mean Internet Explorer. Removing the link from the taskbar is not a very clever idea in our opinion. A better way would be to ask the user whether to remove the Internet Explorer pinned tab from the taskbar if another web browser is picked for installation in the browser ballot screen.
So, many users will notice that the Internet Explorer icon is gone and be completely clueless about it. Yes, the process is explained in the browser ballot screen but we all know that most users are not reading most of the system messages and information presented to them. This could mean chaos.
The second problem is company networks and private networks where Internet Explorer has to be used. These need to block the update so that it is not installed by accident which could turn into a support nightmare for those companies.
What is your opinion about the browser choice screen in Windows in Europe?
Related Articles:
Opera Downloads Triple After Browser Ballot Screen Goes Live In EuropeBrowser Ballot Screen Browsers
Remove An Important Choice To Make: Your Browser
Multiple Browser Bundling With Windows Is Stupid
Bad Choice: Giving The User No Choice
Enjoyed the article?: Then sign-up for our free newsletter or RSS feed to kick off your day with the latest technology news and tips, or share the article with your friends and contacts on Facebook, Twitter or Google+ using the icons below.
Not a ferry elegant way the do things (at all) i think its much better to not uninstall the MS IE 9 (or IE8/IE7, etc.) direct (after reboot) and than give the user a choice, or he/she wants to uninstall MS IE9 (or IE8/IE7, etc.). And all main tweaked settings will be gone to. Terrible way the do things if i may say so or may i say a really Microsoft way to do things (again.)
As to the first point I believe that the update is required to be forced upon users as per the terms of the agreement that they came to with the EU.
Secondly, most business will most likely be running WSUS and SHOULD be managing their updates to ensure that nothing breaks. Chances are if it does interrupt their system due to a lack of using WSUS the company should be small enough that notifying employees of what action to take should be simple enough.
This isnt bad for users. There are 2 main reasons: MS is monopol here and noob and business users uses it. In a facts 3 year ago IE has about 7/10 people, at now 4.5/10+-. Experienced and geek users uses firefox, chrome or opera. Mac-safari is about 1 percent (linux too). Second reason is security, IE is bugy, Germany government recommended do not use it because many worms are using it and many people still uses old IE6 on XP !
sry for eng
I like the idea of “non-tech-savvy” users all over europe beeing forced to aquire knowledge what a browser is. Maybe that means 10 minutes without internet for millions of noobs (while talking to their children or firends to figure out why “my internet is gone”). But afterwards, maybe some of those will remember what a browser is. And this knowledge is needed to understand news about security on the net. You can`t understand why it`s better to use IE8 than IE6, when you dont even know what`s meant by “browser”. The same is true for applying security patches, turning off plugins with exploits or privacy harming features. Even if only a few percent of those noobs will be smarter after the patch, that`s a good thing for the net.
This is not only about brows, but about monopol and all 3rd parties apps. Openoffice ODT were added in any countries as national authorities standard. There was a windows version without media player (Windows N i thing). If there will be not version without media center, EU will be attacked MS again for monopol activity…
Give me a break. Their “Internet” is gone? There’s just as many Firefox users in Europe as IE users. Installing an alternative browser is nothing new to Europeans. They even warn their citizens about the danger of IE insecurity. So, Maybe the average Americans are clueless but give a little more credit to the european users.
You’re obviously the ignorant one here mate. Assuming that people will be more knowledgeable just because they live over here…
Yes. Many people will think the internet is gone. You obviously don’t associate yourself with many average people if you dont realise that
Anyone who needs a browser ballot screen
to install their browser of choice is by definition clueless.
Dumbing-down the whole process is therefore entirely appropriate.
Totally agree. I am sick of being treated like a dummy. Let MS make a “dummy” version of everything and let the rest of us make up our own minds please.
Anything that gets users off IE6 is good. Even if their monitor has to bite and chew them for that. :)
The browser choice page is here:
http://www.browserchoice.eu/BrowserChoice/browserchoice_en.htm
afaik this is the page that is going to go live.
So you can see which browsers are there.
I think they should attempt to detect the presence of alternate browsers – if they find out that I have Firefox, Chrome and Opera installed, then why, man, why would they force that screen upon me? :)
Seriously, they will just ennoy half the european Windows users for no valid reason.
The ballot screen is presented only if IE is the default browser. Users with Fx, Chrome, Opera or whatever browser as default won’t see the ballot screen.
I am no MS apologist but I have not figured out what the governmental problem is with what Microsoft is doing, going back to the original DOJ suit. MS gives away a browser, & all the other browser makers whine. It’s like Saab sells a car & throws in a tank of petrol, & BP complains it is losing sales.This sort of “remedy” is likely to confuse a lot of ordinary PC users.I have tried to interest friends her in the U.S. in Firefox & it is no-go. They have something that works & are happy with it.That is their choice.
BTW–what is a “noob”??
my english is poor but noob is a newbie :D
@Mike J: That’s exactly the point – “it just works”, so people keep the default.
And then the person who is making the default can start ignoring the standards and make up their own, which is what Microsoft *HAS DONE* and got away with for a long time.
But now, finally, most of the internet sites is becoming standards compliant again, and HTML5 is bringing a lot of attention to things them (thanks to tags like video and audio).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noob
You may have a good point there, Natanael L, but the marketplace could sort that out–or not. I isn’t really relevant to the issue of whether this is a monopolistic act in restraint of trade.
Yes it is, because that’s how they almost killed Netscape (saing “almost”, ‘cuz it turned into Mozilla and it’s Firefox).
“This site is best viewed in Internet Explorer”. Ever seen that?
I got the message this morning and immediately suspected an attack. It didn’t take long to track down this explanation, but the message itself appears unannounced as an exe and with no provenance. A very por way to introduce something imo,
My first impression … MALWARE! KILL IT NOW!!
It’s a web browser popup.
The fact it didn’t die when I closed the window only reinforced the impression.
I was about 30 seconds from reimaging the PC but I hit Google frst.
How can I remove this bloody stuff? :(((
This whole thing is incredibly patronising. I know what browsers are available and have those I want installed.
I have two browsers – my own choice – the latest versions of IE and Firefox. I don’t want to change anything, but can’t get this bloody thing to go away. Very annoying.
Me too, IE8 and latest FireFox release. Let’s wait virus protection software to identify this as a trojan and to get rid of it! :)
Absolute friggin bollocks if you ask me.
Micr*soft HAS NO RIGHT TO INSTALL SOFTWARE ONTO MY COMPUTER WITHOUT MY CONSENT. I ONLY CONSTENTED TO PATCH UPDATES.
Micr*soft has made the popup look so SPAMMY that most users will think it is SPYWARE. AND NOT FOLLOW IT.
I CAN’T EVEN DELETE THE SHITTY PROGRAM AS ITS IN SYSTEM 32.
You can avoid installing it by choosing Don’t Show This Update Again on the Microsoft Update website (or on Automatic Updates when it appears, if you have it set not to Automatically Install).
If you’ve already installed it, you can disable it by searching for and deleting the ‘browserchoice entry from the Run folder in the registry (if you don’t know what this means, ask a grownup who does ;)).
Cheers Floydy I’ll consult a grown up…
I’d say that MS hasn’t realised that the EU are not idiots and will see this attempt as “Bad faith” and look to hammer them with some more fines.
Well being a non techy that likes to keep things up to date and simple, i hadnt heard about this so thought this was a virus of some sorts, i had tried chrome but not as easy for me to use as IE, thanks for the info all of ya, i will try Firefox now.
I know loadsa peeps that will click whatever is put in front of them though, lol
Thanks again all
I had this yesterday and also spent ages checking it out to make sure it was genuine or if I had got a virus. I didn’t like the fact that I only had the option of installing browsers that I already have.
Fortunately I was able to find a link with a way to prevent this popup from recurring without having to take any action. This is a set of screen prints that show how to do this.
http://www.associatedcontent.com/slideshow/47105/windows_updates_browser_choice.html
FYI, I could fix the problem on a XP PC by deleting the registry entry “BrowserChoice = “C:\WINDOWS\system32\browserchoice.exe” /run” located at “HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run”.
The bloody stuff no more pops up! :)
Ok I am not a techy,but like a lots of us peeps out there thought it was a ‘nasty’ until I Googled it,NOT thought out well at all….why when you click on certificate does it say it doesn’t have one & the properties tab gives you zero info….what are we supposed to think???
Anyway I have a question…..if I decided to try say Firefox,would IE8 just disappear along with all my favs etc,or can I have both ???
Wow, all firefoxed up now, very impressed, much faster
:)
RE browserchoice exe
Happyily using IE8 on vista for a while. Suddenly from nowhere today this screen pops up (not even obvious its from microsoft) no introduction or explaination. I thought it could be a hack virus so I searched on the net after using taskmanager to identify the exe. I am quite happy using IE8 and just want to keep it like that. There are no options to just keep things as they are? Ive clicked on the ‘install’ button for IE 8 as a forced choice, which just takes me to a random microsoft web page? What a farce! Do I have to see this screen every boot until Ive changed from IE? Am I being forced to change browser? Please make it go away. I am perfectly aware of the other browsers and even use some of them already on other machines
This is an invasion of my machines. I did not ask for this software to be downloaded therefore someone has hacked into my machine. If I did that I think there would be a knock on the door and a very quick court hearing.
I have asked for legal advice, but suspect that little old me has no chance against the likes of M’soft and the EU.
Another thought occurs is that I spend time and money on antivirus and antimalware protection only for M’soft to circumvent this. Auto update is now switched off, against my better judgement.