BrowserChoice.eu was a
website
A website (also written as a web site) is a collection of web pages and related content that is identified by a common domain name and published on at least one web server. Examples of notable websites are Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Wi ...
created by
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washin ...
in March 2010 following a decision in the
European Union Microsoft competition case
''Microsoft Corp. v. Commission'' (2007T-201/04 is a case brought by the European Commission of the European Union (EU) against Microsoft for abuse of its dominant position in the market (according to competition law). It started as a complaint ...
. The case involved legal proceedings by the
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...
against Microsoft and found that, by including
Internet Explorer
Internet Explorer (formerly Microsoft Internet Explorer and Windows Internet Explorer, commonly abbreviated IE or MSIE) is a series of graphical web browsers developed by Microsoft which was used in the Windows line of operating systems ( ...
with their market-dominant
Windows operating system, Microsoft had used this dominance to create a similar market position in the
web browser
A web browser is application software for accessing websites. When a user requests a web page from a particular website, the browser retrieves its files from a web server and then displays the page on the user's screen. Browsers are used o ...
market. The BrowserChoice.eu website was created to allow users that had not made, or were unaware of, a choice to try other browsers, and thus comply with the
European Commission
The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body ...
's ruling.
However, Microsoft's obligation to display the Browser Choice screen to Windows users expired in December 2014.
The BrowserChoice.eu website was discontinued as early as the next year, showing a notice advising users to "
isitthe websites of web browser vendors directly", before going offline completely.
Web browser choice screen
The web browser choice screen, also known as the web browser ballot box, was a screen displayed in
Internet Explorer
Internet Explorer (formerly Microsoft Internet Explorer and Windows Internet Explorer, commonly abbreviated IE or MSIE) is a series of graphical web browsers developed by Microsoft which was used in the Windows line of operating systems ( ...
that offered ten to twelve browsers in a random order. The screen was presented only to Windows users whose default web browser was Internet Explorer. It affected the
European Economic Area
The European Economic Area (EEA) was established via the ''Agreement on the European Economic Area'', an international agreement which enables the extension of the European Union's single market to member states of the European Free Trade As ...
,
Croatia
, image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg
, image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg
, anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, capit ...
and
Switzerland. A patch was made available via
Windows Update
Windows Update is a Microsoft service for the Windows 9x and Windows NT families of operating system, which automates downloading and installing Microsoft Windows software updates over the Internet. The service delivers software updates for Wind ...
to provide the screen to users. It was distributed under the
Microsoft Knowledge Base Microsoft Knowledge Base was (as of 2020, almost all articles now produce the message : Sorry, page not found) a repository of over 150,000 articles made available to the public by Microsoft Corporation. It contains information on many problems enco ...
ID number 976002; after the website was discontinued in December 2014, the update was removed from
Microsoft Update Catalog.
Browsers listed
The browser choice screen listed 10 to 12 browsers in random order; the top tier of five were immediately visible and the remaining ones could be seen by scrolling the list. The order of the browsers on the page was initially planned to be alphabetical, but after criticism a random system was used with two groups.
The first group included the five most used browsers ‒
Internet Explorer
Internet Explorer (formerly Microsoft Internet Explorer and Windows Internet Explorer, commonly abbreviated IE or MSIE) is a series of graphical web browsers developed by Microsoft which was used in the Windows line of operating systems ( ...
,
Mozilla Firefox,
Google Chrome,
Opera
Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a libr ...
, and initially
Safari but later
Maxthon
Maxthon (, formerly named ''MyIE2'') is a freeware web browser, created by JeffChen in Singapore. It is available for Windows, macOS, Linux, and as ''Maxthon Mobile'' for Android, iOS, and Windows Phone 8. Since version 6 Maxthon is based on Ch ...
‒ representing the four major rendering engines (
Trident
A trident is a three- pronged spear. It is used for spear fishing and historically as a polearm.
The trident is the weapon of Poseidon, or Neptune, the God of the Sea in classical mythology. The trident may occasionally be held by other mari ...
,
Gecko,
Blink and
WebKit
WebKit is a browser engine developed by Apple and primarily used in its Safari web browser, as well as on the iOS and iPadOS version of any web browser. WebKit is also used by the BlackBerry Browser, PlayStation consoles beginning from the P ...
). The second group contained less well-known browsers, also in random order: at different times this group included
Avant Browser
Avant Browser is a discontinued freeware web browser from a Chinese programmer named Anderson Che with the browser engines Trident, Gecko and Webkit the user can switch between. It runs on Windows 2000 and above, including Windows 8, Windows 8 ...
,
Comodo Dragon
Comodo Dragon is a freeware web browser. It is based on Chromium and is produced by Comodo Group. Sporting a similar interface to Google Chrome, Dragon does not implement Chrome's user tracking and some other potentially privacy-compromising ...
,
Flock,
GreenBrowser,
K-Meleon,
Lunascape,
Maxthon
Maxthon (, formerly named ''MyIE2'') is a freeware web browser, created by JeffChen in Singapore. It is available for Windows, macOS, Linux, and as ''Maxthon Mobile'' for Android, iOS, and Windows Phone 8. Since version 6 Maxthon is based on Ch ...
,
Rockmelt,
SRWare Iron,
Sleipnir, and
SlimBrowser.
Revisions
The initial March 2010 list had
Internet Explorer
Internet Explorer (formerly Microsoft Internet Explorer and Windows Internet Explorer, commonly abbreviated IE or MSIE) is a series of graphical web browsers developed by Microsoft which was used in the Windows line of operating systems ( ...
,
Firefox
Mozilla Firefox, or simply Firefox, is a free and open-source web browser developed by the Mozilla Foundation and its subsidiary, the Mozilla Corporation. It uses the Gecko rendering engine to display web pages, which implements current ...
,
Chrome,
Opera
Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a libr ...
and
Safari in the first tier, with
Avant Browser
Avant Browser is a discontinued freeware web browser from a Chinese programmer named Anderson Che with the browser engines Trident, Gecko and Webkit the user can switch between. It runs on Windows 2000 and above, including Windows 8, Windows 8 ...
,
Flock,
GreenBrowser,
K-Meleon,
Maxthon
Maxthon (, formerly named ''MyIE2'') is a freeware web browser, created by JeffChen in Singapore. It is available for Windows, macOS, Linux, and as ''Maxthon Mobile'' for Android, iOS, and Windows Phone 8. Since version 6 Maxthon is based on Ch ...
,
Sleipnir and
SlimBrowser in the second tier. In August 2010 Microsoft removed GreenBrowser and Sleipnir from the choices, replacing them with
Lunascape and
SRWare Iron. In November 2011 Microsoft reduced the number of second tier browsers from the previous seven to six. They removed Flock and SlimBrowser, but re-established Sleipnir.
In February 2012 Microsoft increased the number of second tier browsers to seven:
Comodo Dragon
Comodo Dragon is a freeware web browser. It is based on Chromium and is produced by Comodo Group. Sporting a similar interface to Google Chrome, Dragon does not implement Chrome's user tracking and some other potentially privacy-compromising ...
and
Rockmelt were added, while Sleipnir was removed again. In August 2012 Microsoft removed Apple Safari from the first tier due to the browser's discontinuation on Windows, and replaced it with Maxthon. SlimBrowser was added back to the second tier. In February 2013 Microsoft removed SlimBrowser from the second tier and replaced it with Sleipnir.
In May 2013 Microsoft removed Rockmelt from the second tier. By May 2014 Microsoft had removed Comodo Dragon from the second tier. In September 2014 Comodo was returned to the second tier, replacing Avant Browser. In December 2014 the website was discontinued.
Results
Competing browsers saw their traffic increase, suggesting that these smaller competing developers were gaining users. However, long-term trends show browsers such as Opera and Firefox losing market share in Europe, calling into question the usefulness of the browser choice screen.
Criticism
The source code of the page itself came under criticism. The order of the browsers on screen was at first insufficiently random, which led to uneven distribution. This was later fixed by Microsoft.
The choice of browsers was also criticised.
At the time of its inception, half of the suggested browsers use Internet Explorer's
Trident
A trident is a three- pronged spear. It is used for spear fishing and historically as a polearm.
The trident is the weapon of Poseidon, or Neptune, the God of the Sea in classical mythology. The trident may occasionally be held by other mari ...
rendering engine, thus users who choose web browsers other than Internet Explorer for the intention of avoiding it might still end up using IE's layout engine.
This has resulted in criticism amongst the web development community even though Microsoft was adhering to the court agreement's methodology.
Finally, the overall ability for users to access the site was criticised.
Opera Software
Opera is a Norwegian multinational technology company and subsidiary of Kunlun that specializes in web browser development, fintech, as well as services such as Opera News and YoYo Games. The company's total user base, including users of its ...
complained that the ballot screen could not be reached in some cases because of the start configuration screens of IE. In 2012 Microsoft had issues with both Windows 7 and Windows 8 no longer leading new users in the
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...
to the page. The
Windows 7 SP1 retail release was initially missing BrowserChoice.eu functionality, affecting 28 million computers. The error remained unpatched for 14 months, and as a result in March 2013 the European Commission fined Microsoft €561 million.
Windows 8
Windows 8 is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft. It was released to manufacturing on August 1, 2012; it was subsequently made available for download via MSDN and TechNet on August 15, 2012, and later to ...
was also released without the browser choice screen functionality and patched several days after the release.
Mozilla
Mozilla (stylized as moz://a) is a free software community founded in 1998 by members of Netscape. The Mozilla community uses, develops, spreads and supports Mozilla products, thereby promoting exclusively free software and open standards, w ...
's general counsel estimated that 6–9 million downloads of Firefox web browser alone were lost due to the mistake.
Petition
Makers of the second-tier browsers
Flock,
Avant AVANT, also known as AVANT street art guerrilla collective, was the artist group active in New York City from 1980 to 1984. By 1984 AVANT had produced thousands of acrylic on paper paintings and plastered them on walls, doors, bus-stops and gallerie ...
,
GreenBrowser,
Maxthon
Maxthon (, formerly named ''MyIE2'') is a freeware web browser, created by JeffChen in Singapore. It is available for Windows, macOS, Linux, and as ''Maxthon Mobile'' for Android, iOS, and Windows Phone 8. Since version 6 Maxthon is based on Ch ...
,
Sleipnir, and
Slim
Slim or SLIM may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Fictional characters
* Slim Goodbody, a fictional character who teaches about anatomy
* Slim, one of the alien antagonists of the 1988 film '' Killer Klowns from Outer Space''
* Slim, the Pixl fro ...
sent a petition to the EU to get
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washin ...
to add text or a graphic (rather than just the slider) indicating that there are more than five browsers. Microsoft responded by stating: "We (Microsoft) do not plan on making any changes at this time."
See also
*
European Union Microsoft competition case
''Microsoft Corp. v. Commission'' (2007T-201/04 is a case brought by the European Commission of the European Union (EU) against Microsoft for abuse of its dominant position in the market (according to competition law). It started as a complaint ...
* ''
United States v. Microsoft Corp.''
*
Criticism of Microsoft
Criticism of Microsoft has followed various aspects of its products and business practices. Issues with ease of use, robustness, and security of the company's software are common targets for critics. In the 2000s, a number of malware mishaps targ ...
*
Microsoft litigation
Microsoft has been involved in numerous high-profile legal matters that involved litigation over the history of the company, including cases against the United States, the European Union, and competitors.
Governmental
In its 2008 annual report, Mi ...
References
External links
browserchoice.euon the
Internet Archive
The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...
{{Microsoft
Microsoft websites
Web browsers
Internet properties established in 2010
Defunct websites
Competition law