Competitors grouse over IE8 default setting in Windows 7
- 11 May, 2009 04:19
- Comments 2
As the browser wars have heated up again, so have complaints that Microsoft is once again unfairly leveraging its Windows OS - this time Windows 7 - to promote its Internet Explorer browser.
Browser competitors Mozilla, Opera and others are bristling about a setting in the Windows 7 Release Candidate pushed out via Microsoft's Windows Update service last week that makes IE8 the default browser upon installation, even when someone was previously using other browser software.
Competitors complain this gives IE8 an unfair advantage over their software.
"We're concerned, of course, and continue to investigate," Mitchell Baker, chairman of Mozilla, which releases the Firefox open-source browser, said via e-mail Friday.
"Using the Windows Update channel to update Internet Explorer in any way that undermines user choices is a clear example of how Microsoft uses its monopoly position to damage competition in related products."
However, analysts point out the Windows 7 RC1 is not the final version of the OS, and consider it highly unlikely - given Microsoft's antitrust past and even present trouble with the European Union over IE's inclusion in Windows - that the final version will do such a thing.
"It's not in Microsoft's interest to stir up that kind of controversy so close to the actual release of the product, so I doubt it was deliberate," said Laurent Lachal, a senior analyst with Ovum.
"They have more to lose through that kind of controversy in terms of bad publicity than they have to gain."
Microsoft did not reply immediately to a request for comment Friday.
Even if Microsoft changes the setting with the final release of Windows 7, which some expect as early as October, "the damage is already done," said Opera CTO Hakon Wium Lie.
"They have pushed IE8 onto Windows XP and Windows Vista users," he said. "When they run IE8, Opera users will find that their browser preferences are reset. Likewise with Firefox."
Lie said that although his company would prefer to "compete on merit," he believes Microsoft's behavior, which is not likely to change, may have to be controlled by government regulation for it to stop.
"We're very happy the European Commission... is looking into Microsoft's behavior in the browser market," Lie said.
Still, another analyst said that even if Windows 7 makes IE8 the default, there is nothing stopping a user from making a browser of their choice - be it Firefox, Opera, Google's Chrome or Apple's Safari - the default once the OS is installed.
"Microsoft just continues to walk a fine line," said Sheri McLeish, a Forrester Research analyst.
"They're well versed in the situation and they're pushing the envelope as far as they can to put their browser in front of people. It's a business strategy."
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Comments
Bob D
IE8 and others
The people that run Opera, Chrome, Firefox and Safari do this by choice and most of them are quite able to handle a minor difficulty like IE8 assuming default browser status. They are asked before it happens and if it slips through then the next time they start their preferred browser it will complain (or should complain) that it is not the default and should it be so.
If the Opera people were enterprising enough, when their product is installed, they could set up task under the task scheduler that checked the status of their product and if it was not default they could warn the user. Too easy, they just want a free ride.
I have tried all of the major browser offerings except Safari. Chrome is still too buggy, Opera is OK but they dont seem to be able to get mainstream. FireFox is fine but like all of the non IE browsers, it cant do it all and some things it does in a very odd way. There are certain things that must be done with IE. Now that IE8 is out I think FF has no advantage.
One of the supposed FF advantages is less bugs. This has not been true in the 3.0x releases. It is certainly less targetted by the bad guys than IE but that is because its share is still too low and the users are more capable of avoiding traps. Unlike IE which has all of the people who struggle to even use a PC.
It's all good and it keeps Microsoft on its toes which cant be a bad thing. LOL
Anonymous
@IE8 and others
Yes, IE has all the people who struggle to even use a PC (and there's a reason for that).
This is very well known to MS, who attempt to use their lack of technical skill to sneak IE8 in as the default browser.
Why should people who have worked their way through the MS miasma to install FF et al as their preferred browser then have their existing choice overridden without their knowledge by MS?
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