Microsoft reaches agreement with EU over browser choice

chuckr · 17 Dec 2009

Tews said:

The European Commission said today that it had accepted Microsoft's commitments to give users browser choice.

Under the terms of the agreement, Microsoft will need to supply a ballot screen for users to choose their preferred browser. OEMs will also be able to ship new PCs in Europe without Internet Explorer pre-installed. If Microsoft fails to commit to the agreement within the next five years then EC regulators will impose a fine of up to 10% of Microsoft's total annual turnover without having to prove any violation of EU antitrust rules.

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Strikes me that they should have opted for 25-30%,

"without having to prove any violation"...

Hell, that would "improve people's experience of the internet" even more...

Zidane24 · 17 Dec 2009

chuckr said:

Tews said:

The European Commission said today that it had accepted Microsoft's commitments to give users browser choice.

Under the terms of the agreement, Microsoft will need to supply a ballot screen for users to choose their preferred browser. OEMs will also be able to ship new PCs in Europe without Internet Explorer pre-installed. If Microsoft fails to commit to the agreement within the next five years then EC regulators will impose a fine of up to 10% of Microsoft's total annual turnover without having to prove any violation of EU antitrust rules.

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Strikes me that they should have opted for 25-30%,

"without having to prove any violation"...

Hell, that would "improve people's experience of the internet" even more...

Except the fact that this is a deliberate "get rich quick scheme"...

Until I see charges brought against Apple for bundling Safari or linux distros for 90% of the time bundling Firefox...the EU are nothing more than crooks looking to earn a dollar quick

Gornot · 17 Dec 2009

I already shared my thoughts on this matter, so seeing that this ~~problem~~ is ~~settled~~ I am deliberately going to uninstall Firefox. I want to wait two whole seconds for IE8 to open a new tab, I want to be bugged by pop up screens and advertisements, which doesn't happen all that often because the websites I visit every day aren't that much flooded with advertisements. Besides, advertisements have helped me over the years to learn a lot and discover new games, programs, websites (this forum) etc. To hell with the stupid EU!

jimbo45 · 18 Dec 2009

Tews said:

The European Commission said today that it had accepted Microsoft's commitments to give users browser choice.

Under the terms of the agreement, Microsoft will need to supply a ballot screen for users to choose their preferred browser. OEMs will also be able to ship new PCs in Europe without Internet Explorer pre-installed. If Microsoft fails to commit to the agreement within the next five years then EC regulators will impose a fine of up to 10% of Microsoft's total annual turnover without having to prove any violation of EU antitrust rules.

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5 Years -- W7 will be HISTORY by then - no offence as this IS the W7 Forum

Who'se for W9 128 Bit with 1 TB of Biological Memory and 7 PB (PetaBytes) of auxiliary storage and CPU's using Neural Networking.

Pity the whole EU commission isn't also history by then - but that's another issue.

Cheers
jimbo

madtownidiot · 18 Dec 2009

jimbo45 said:

Who'se for W9 128 Bit with 1 TB of Biological Memory and 7 PB (PetaBytes) of auxiliary storage and CPU's using Neural Networking.

And a $23,000 price tag for the ultimate version

Duncan · 20 Dec 2009

chuckr said:

Tews said:

The European Commission said today that it had accepted Microsoft's commitments to give users browser choice.

Under the terms of the agreement, Microsoft will need to supply a ballot screen for users to choose their preferred browser. OEMs will also be able to ship new PCs in Europe without Internet Explorer pre-installed. If Microsoft fails to commit to the agreement within the next five years then EC regulators will impose a fine of up to 10% of Microsoft's total annual turnover without having to prove any violation of EU antitrust rules.

More..

Strikes me that they should have opted for 25-30%,

"without having to prove any violation"...

Hell, that would "improve people's experience of the internet" even more...

If Microsoft have a good strategy they will want to include such screens anyway.

It's bad business to monopolise and control, it's much better to give people freedom and then they choose your software because it is the best. The best strategy is to innovate and dominate by being the best. Quality always wins. Of course if your loosing the race then you have good reason to try and control it.