BrowserChoice.eu

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

BrowserChoice.eu was a website operated by Microsoft from 2009 to 2014 designed to make it easier for Windows users to choose an alternative web browser .

history

It was set up as a result of legal proceedings with the EU in December 2009 and should be maintained for 5 years. So the market, which according to the EU is distorted by the market power of Microsoft Windows in favor of the bundled Internet Explorer , should be restored.

The original plan was to deliver a patch from March 17, 2010 through Windows Update , which enables the download of a browser of your choice via a dialog window and allows it to be set up as the standard browser. In this case, Internet Explorer will only be reactivated. The patch has been delivered since March 8, 2010 on computers with regional settings set to a country in the EU , EFTA or Croatia that was not yet in the EU at that time. If Internet Explorer was set up as the standard browser, the selection window described was presented.

After the five-year period had expired, the original content of the page was replaced by a note on December 18, 2014. This stated that the requirements of the European Commission were no longer valid, that Microsoft therefore no longer maintained the site and that the user should inform himself directly on the respective pages of the provider.

In the meantime the website has been completely switched off, so it is no longer accessible under the domain browserchoice.eu ; the domain is still registered (as of December 2017).

content

A total of eleven browsers were available on the website. The arrangement of the browsers on the site was initially planned alphabetically; after criticism, a random system with two groups was used. The first group, which was displayed completely next to each other when the page was called up, comprised the five browsers Google Chrome , Internet Explorer , Mozilla Firefox , Opera and Apple Safari in random order . If you scrolled to the right, the less well-known other six appear in a random order.

The browsers GreenBrowser and Sleipnir contained in the original version of BrowserChoice.eu were replaced in August 2010 by Lunascape and the Chromium-based browser SRWare Iron . In mid-2011, the browser Flock , as its further development was discontinued, and SlimBrowser were removed from the list. In return, Sleipnir was again included in the selection until February 2012. At the same time, two forks from Google Chrome called Comodo Dragon and Rockmelt were added, increasing the number of lesser-known browsers back to seven. In August 2012, Safari was discontinued because the new version 6 was no longer published for Windows, but SlimBrowser was again included in the selection.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ European Commission: Press Release : "Microsoft will make available for five years in the European Economic Area (through the Windows Update mechanism) a" Choice Screen "enabling users [...] to choose which web browser (s) they want to Install[...]."
  2. ↑ a b Archive version of the information text on BrowserChoice.eu after the original page was switched off ( Memento from December 23, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
  3. ↑ Andreas Wilkens: Microsoft will deliver web browser selection windows from March 17th. In: Heise online . February 19, 2010, accessed February 7, 2018 .
  4. ↑ Browser Choice FAQ on Microsoft Technet
  5. ↑ Andreas Wilkens: Microsoft delivers web browser selection windows in Germany. In: Heise online. March 8, 2010, accessed January 25, 2013 .
  6. ↑ a b Microsoft is doing away with web browser selection in Windows at heise.de
  7. ^ Whois from browserchoice.eu. Retrieved on December 20, 2017 (eng, page available again, registrant is with "Microsoft BV").
  8. ↑ Vygantas Lipskas: Maxthon Replaces Safari In The Browser Ballot Screen. In: FavBrowser.com. September 7, 2012, accessed January 25, 2013 .