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Deal forcing Microsoft to offer browser choices ends

bbc.com

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Re: Deal forcing Microsoft to offer browser choices ends

#3

Post by FreakyT »

Good riddance -- that screen was nothing more than a historic artifact at this point.

With Microsoft's monopoly on web-enabled devices finally broken by Android/iOS, not to mention the emergence of Chrome on Windows desktops, IE-dominance has finally more or less ended[1].

[1] http://caniuse.com/#search=webgl

Re: Deal forcing Microsoft to offer browser choices ends

#5

Post by humpt »

I remember seeing this on TV and not understanding why microsoft was threatened with a fine if they ship IE by default on their products.

Actually I still don't. Nobody ever stopped me from downloading another browser on windows, anyone who wants to do it will do it. So people did have a choice, they just didn't know they had it, and it's their problem, not microsoft's!

Could someone explain this to me?

Re: Deal forcing Microsoft to offer browser choices ends

#7

Post by Cthulhu_ »

humpt wrote: post #5

I remember seeing this on TV and not understanding why microsoft was threatened with a fine if they ship IE by default on their products. Actually I still don't. Nobody ever stopped me from downloading another browser on windows, anyone who wants to do it will do it. So people did have a choice, they just didn't know they had it, and it's their problem, not microsoft's! Could someone explain this to me?

Because Opera, and before that the company behind Real Player, are anal like that and the EU went and agreed with them for some silly reason. They never did go after Apple, or Google / Android, or whatever for doing the exact same thing (pre-installing a media player / browser). I guess you could argue that Microsoft was singled out because their browser was an inherent component of their OS, but at the same time you could go after Apple and Android as well for their webview that is required to be used in all applications that need one.

Re: Deal forcing Microsoft to offer browser choices ends

#8

Post by outside1234 »

humpt wrote: post #5

I remember seeing this on TV and not understanding why microsoft was threatened with a fine if they ship IE by default on their products. Actually I still don't. Nobody ever stopped me from downloading another browser on windows, anyone who wants to do it will do it. So people did have a choice, they just didn't know they had it, and it's their problem, not microsoft's! Could someone explain this to me?

You needed to be around in the 1990s to understand this. :)

Its sort of like Google search now where when you search for "ann arbor map" you get a giant beautiful link to another Google property and a few riffraff links to other competitors that basically nobody ever clicks on because it would take effort.

This is exactly where Microsoft was in the 90s / early 2000s with browsers. They had a dominant desktop share and they directly embedded IE and although there were alternatives, clicking takes effort and nobody did that. They just used IE. The EU forced them to provide an explicit, easy option to reduce that advantage.

Given Google's dominant share in search, it would not be surprising to me to see the EU force them to change this for the same competition reasons.

Also, it was a great way for the EU to shake Microsoft down for billions of dollars and ensure there was no one company more powerful than the EU, but I'll leave that to the conspiracy theorists.

Re: Deal forcing Microsoft to offer browser choices ends

#9

Post by icebraining »

humpt wrote: post #5

I remember seeing this on TV and not understanding why microsoft was threatened with a fine if they ship IE by default on their products. Actually I still don't. Nobody ever stopped me from downloading another browser on windows, anyone who wants to do it will do it. So people did have a choice, they just didn't know they had it, and it's their problem, not microsoft's! Could someone explain this to me?

The idea - and I'm just explaining it, not advocating nor criticizing - is that when you have a overwhelming control in one market (in this case, Windows), you can't use that to push your way to the top of another market, since it's stifling the competition and reducing consumer welfare.

Re: Deal forcing Microsoft to offer browser choices ends

#10

Post by binarymax »

bcardarella wrote: post #6

Why isn't Apple forced to the same deal with iOS? Not only do browsers not have the same prominence but they actually have to use WebView for rendering. Not to mention the other apps Apple refuses to approve because of "duplication".

Probably because iOS doesn't have a monopoly on phones. Windows had to do this because they had 95% of the desktop market - so bundling IE forced the default browser for 95% of machines as well.
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