
IE to lose Windows monopoly next week in Europe - ashishbharthi
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1001_3-10456582-92.html?part=rss&amp;subj=news&amp;tag=2547-1_3-0-20
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endtime
Anyone else find it a bit ridiculous that 45.5% is considered a "monopoly"?

Anyway, as much as I disagree with Microsoft being required to do this, as an
Opera user I only stand to gain from increased Opera marketshare. :)

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dan_sim
I think that the "monopoly" comes from the fact that IE is installed by
default on any new Windows computer.

Opera is the best browser ever... but I don't use it because it doesn't
support Firebug. In fact, there's always a good reason to stick to Firefox as
there is always a good reason for a non-techy person to stick to IE if it's
installed by default.

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abrown28
All the arguments that are used against IE can also be applied to Notepad,
Outlook express, Calc and a 100 other pre-installed programs. I don't
understand why IE is singled out as special.

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melling
How about we want an open standards Internet and the 90% monopoly Microsoft
has on the desktop really endangers that? After all, ms wouldn't give a crap
about open standards unless pushed.

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abrown28
1) I assume that by using "We" you mean you and I and a few others because
it's painfully clear to me that approximately 90% of the browser using world
could care less.

2) Is using force the only way to accomplish the goal of open standards?

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AlisdairO
Against a company with a monopoly and a vested interested in closed standards
that help maintain that monopoly? I'd say so, yes.

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abrown28
If that company enforced their monopoly through force then I would agree with
you.

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DeusExMachina
I think that this will also be good to make users aware of what a browser is,
since a lot of people just think of IE as "the internet".

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MindTwister
Am I the only one that finds the title very misleading? This is about the
browser choice when installing Windows, not a windows monopoly.

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ZeroGravitas
Is this going to have any impact on IE6 share? Or would anyone who gets this
ballot have already been auto-updated to IE7 or 8?

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wmf
The ballot screen is for XP, Vista, and 7, but I have to imagine that people
stuck on IE6 are either using locked-down corporate machines or simply people
who don't install updates; in either case they probably won't even see the
ballot screen.

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malkia
How would the Windows Update work?

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freebsd_dude
simple solution: just force MS to install Chrome Frame by default in IE. This
may not increase awareness of other browsers, but it does make developers life
easier.

