Saturday, 13th March 2010.

EU commission has its way, MS to offer browser options

Written on Sunday, 26th July 2009 by Neeta

Windows 7! It appears that Microsoft would be offering competing space to browsers like Chrome, Firefox and Safari in form of a browser ballot, where users can pick and choose browsers other than IE. If the recent post in Ars is to be believed then EU has had its way with Redmond. EU commission had earlier objected to bundling of IE with windows operating system. Redmond is expected to come out with Win 7 and by giving users options to choose from a whole basket of browsers, Microsoft might have given a great boost to competing browsers like Firefox and Chrome a level playing field.

In coming months we may see drastic changes in the comScore published data on browsers market share. Does Redmond’s decision has anything to do with less than expected earnings in the results just announced. I don’t think so. EU commission has been after Microsoft for quite some time and if company would not have offered this proposal, EU commission might have given stricter ruling against Microsoft.

Now, MS can still ship IE with Win 7 and then offer choice to the users at the booing stage. But this would be good opening for Firefox, Chrome and Safari to squeeze in and grab some market share at the expense of Internet Explorer.