Opera alerts EU to hidden Windows browser-ballot Just when it seemed like Microsoft's European anti-trust tangle on browser choice in Windows was over, trouble is stirring again. Opera Software has told The Reg that it has informed the European Union of a possible problem with a fix that was designed to make Internet Explorer in Windows comply with EU antitrust law. Opera …
RE: " .....Opera’s example, where a Windows XP user has rejected installation of IE 8 for the year it has been available but suddenly decides to install it is not realistic.”
I did exactly this five on machines right in my humble abode. Seems I had been completely ignoring IE in favor of FF. Then one day on the MS Update site I decide to h3ll with it and allow the update to IE8 for no particular reason. And I did it on our three desktops and two netbooks.
What the frakk makes Microsoft believe people do only their version of what's reasonable? Morons, just morons.
As soon as a bad IE story crops up, all the IE Shills and their dupe accounts crop up, with their obvious American speak...
Someone needs to tell Microsoft's army of viral marketers that "cool aid" is only available in the US, and not a global term. It's the golden giveaway that they are shilling...
I'm a recent Opera convert, and I love it, infact every day goes by, I find new stuff to love...
I love this post: Kool-Aid drinker accuses anyone who disagrees with them of being a Kool-Aid drinker.
I think XYZ no one in their right mind would disagree with me, therefore logically you must be paid MS shills!
Here's the thing boys and girls, these comments are part of what is known as conversation, or debate. Debate naturally gives rise to opposing viewpoints, as hard as it might seem there are rational people out there who disagree with what you believe. They are not paid shills, they are not (always) idiots and accusing them of being shills, fanbois etc does not invalidate their opinions, nor is it a ligitimate way of stating your opinion.
Note: The above does not apply if someone disagrees with my point of view.
I guess browsers are the new software religious war, eh? I see Emacs and Vi users cooperating these days, but apparently backing the wrong browser is enough to get you exiled. I never did understand these things (Except I know that all Emacs users are kiddie-fiddlers, obviously) as they're all just pieces of software, and it seems idiotic to judge someone for their choice of an application. Except Emacs.
In any case, Opera's "complaining" (other's may call it "pointing out that someone is breaking the law") isn't really much wasted time, as hammering out a blog entry and responding to a few emails doesn't exactly amount to a full-time job. In fact for the last couple weeks Opera has been pumping out betas and RCs at about a 48 hour interval, each time with a pretty good amount of bugs fixed.
And last weekend I reformatted a friends' computer (he owned the machine by browsing sketchy porn in IE6) with whatever version of XP came in the recovery partition on his Dell. After hours of updates I eventually got to IE8, which requires more clicks to install than any other update (irritating since I was trying to multi-task, and it's nice to be able to ignore Windows Update for long periods of time.) I then had to click through way too many windows, all of which left me with the distinct impression that if I didn't choose the MS option for each, I was doing something wrong.
I had also previously removed the IE icon from the desktop, to discourage use, and the IE8 update made it come back, even though it should have been fairly obvious (I unchecked a box in a config to remove it) that I didn't want it there to begin with.
In the end I did manage to get FF back to the default browser, but the whole experience took quite a toll on my already short patience for MS crap.
I use IE once or twice a year when I want to quickly visit a site on a little-used Windows box that doesn't really require a decent browser. But I can't use it until I click ignore on that stupid ass setup screen every damn time it opens. Or if I go along with it I have to answer a veritable cluster fuck of ridiculous questions that seemingly never ends. Then I log in through another user account and... fuck here we go again.
Same bullshit happens if you try to use Media Player. SO many dumb questions. Bitch please I just want to open an mp3 WHY CANT YOU JUST OPEN IT. I don't want to choose Media Player's preferred behaviour for signalling a Satellite phase shift error when the Quantum Unicorn calls on the third full moon of the year if Jupiter is in the second house I JUST WANT TO PLAY MEDIA FILES.
Can't Microsoft EVER just get software right.
"I" comes before "O" in the alphabet and those nasty bastards are sorting the list alphabetically. The only fair thing to do is put OUR browser at the top of the list and preselect it. It's not our fault our browsers name starts with an "O"!
AHA! -it's all racist, that's it! The alphabet was created by white people - bastards. Where the hell as Al Sharpton or Rev. Jess Jackson when you need them!
You guys that are hating on Opera... you know, Microsoft is well known for tricks like this. It is quite obvious that they should be able to make the browser ballot pop up without having to "set up" IE, if the user doesn't even intend to USE IE. Microsoft can claim "Golly gee, we didn't notice" but COME ON -- this is what happens on a fresh install, I'm sure somebody there tested this. They knew EXACTLY what would happen, and I think they did this intentionally. Based on historical precedence, Microsoft is WELL KNOWN to do things like this (try to see how many "mistakes" they can make in following court orders without being sued). Sorry guys, but Opera is in the right on this one. Microsoft is a convicted monopolist, and if they were court ordered to do a browser screen, they have to make it work right. Honestly, it's not a big deal either, since it's downloaded as an update anyway, it's not like distributing this fix is a big burden on Microsoft.
"Microsoft can claim "Golly gee, we didn't notice" but COME ON -- this is what happens on a fresh install, I'm sure somebody there tested this."
Yes I'm sure somebody did. But I'm also sure it was some bored tech guy in a lab, listening to Korn on his Zune, who knew exactly what he was doing and didn't think the configuration screens for IE were confusing, because he sees them 10 times a week and can click through them in 20 seconds. He wouldn't have seen it as any kind of a problem.
The people making the statements about "Golly gee, we didn't notice" are not the same people who actually use the stuff. It's therefore very hard to say that the obfuscation is intentional. Stupid and typically Microsoft yes, but you give them too much credit if you think they are actually clever enough to be so devious.
Oh geez, here we go again. Another EU "solution" that complicates everything and fixes nothing. The people who *want* to use an alternative browser are the ones who already know how to change it. The rest are those who either don't care or are like my mother-in-law, who would panic at all the choices and pick up the phone. To me.
Why in God's name won't Opera either die or just concentrate a better product? Almost the only time you hear about them is when they are whining about something.
They always focus on the negative - never telling you what they can do better, only what some else "sucks" at.
If they put as much effort into their products as they do into chasing Microsoft they'd be a lot better off.
Considering that Opera is currently the fastest browser on the market, and with the best security track record, it seems that they have indeed been making the best product.
Opera is in fact in the news a lot. It's your own fault if you only notice it when Opera points out errors.
Opera always talks about what they can do better. It's just you who doesn't care when they do. And when they do something else, you whine about it.
Fail.
I don't know what depresses me more, the situation or the comments.
This whole decision is bad for just about everyone:
1) I've had people who want/need to keep IE7, but once installed, the browser choice screen keeps pestering them
2) Most home users I've done work for in the last month or so just close the box with a severe case of tl;dr - they just get annoyed that it keeps popping out.
3) There's no official way to uninstall it, if it ends up on a corporate PC if it uses Windows Update as well as WSUS. (Just deleting the browserchoice.exe from system32 seems to do it - you even get offered it on the next Windows Update, which you can then decline)
4) EU Comes across as medelling/ineffective (Delete as appropriate) Microsoft come across as sneaky bastards, Opera come across as whinny nanny boys, and Mozilla come across as dangerous subversives.
but this just looks like nitpicking to be honest.
microsoft deserve a good kick in the balls for the way they conduct their business imho, but arranging things so it is possible to cover one dialogue with another and then pointing out that this isn't particularly fair on the other browsers seems disengenuous.
I'm sure windows could be made to cover any amount of dialogues with other less relevant dialogues; this is a non story.
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