Browser Makers Want Better Exposure On Microsoft Browser Choice Screen

[engine]

Browser Makers Want Better Exposure On Microsoft Browser Choice Screen [news.bbc.co.uk]

Makers of small web browsers want their programs to be given more prominence on Microsoft's browser choice screen.

Six software firms have complained to the EU saying many do not realise their programs were on offer.

To see all 12 web browsers, users must scroll to the right when viewing Microsoft's ballot screen.

"The final choice screen design leaves the vast majority of users unaware that there are more than five browsers to choose from," the six firms said in their petition.

The petition is signed by the makers of the Avant, Flock, Maxthon, Slim, Sleipnir and Green browsers. The makers of the other browser on offer, K-Meleon, did not sign it.

Microsoft Browser Choice Screen For Europe Starts To Roll Out [webmasterworld.com]

Is this now all too late?

[mack]

The choice screen is random, so every browser has as much chance as another of being shown within the first few options.

I still don't think it was thought out properly, but many users who I spoke to closed it without taking the time to really look through it. To a user it was simply an advert!

Mack.

[jecasc]

I think only the display of the first five browsers is changed randomly.

Opera reports downloads have trippled in several countries since the introduction of the browser choice:
[mashable.com...]

[kaled]

The screen should
a) scroll vertically
b) identify the rendering engine such as Gecko
c) for each rendering engine, place only one browser on the first row.

Kaled.

[mack]

A user would have info overload if the rendering engine was mentioned. Joe user Wouldent know what it was.

Mack.

[dreamcatcher]

Opera reports downloads have trippled in several countries since the introduction of the browser choice:

Makes sense. Many people have no idea about different browsers.

d

[whoisgregg]

I think only the display of the first five browsers is changed randomly.

If you have javascript enabled, the first five are randomized and the last seven are randomized separately.

When javascript is off, the order is:

1. IE8
   
2. Firefox
   
3. Opera
   
4. Chrome
   
5. Safari
   
6. Maxthon
   
7. K-Meleon
   
8. Flock
   
9. Avant Browser
   
10. Sleipnir
    
11. FlashPeak
    
12. GreenBrowser
    

Interesting that they'd put Opera above Chrome and Safari. What order are these in?

[TamanRoyal]

I think they are sort by most installed.

[RonPK]

I must admit I've never heard of FlashPeak or GreenBrowser. Maxthon and Avant are basically IE with some extra features, me thinks. And I thought K-meleon had died many years ago, but they actually released version 1.5.4 today.

[ish]

Opera reports downloads have trippled in several countries since the introduction of the browser choice
So, 3 people downloaded it in Greece! ;-)

[kaled]

A user would have info overload if the rendering engine was mentioned. Joe user wouldn't know what it was.

It's only one line of text. When Joe Public buys a computer, normally he will know whether the CPU is AMD or Intel, even if he doesn't know that they are different manufacturers rather than different models.

This is about giving users choice and that requires sufficient information to be made available. If you were buying a car made by Acme Motors, you'd probably want to know if it was basically a dressed up Ford.

It seems logical to me to place all the Internet Explorer clones in one column, all the Gecko-based browsers such as Firefox in another column and then Opera, Safari and Chrome each in their own columns. I think users would be able to understand that.

Kaled.

[weeks]

Opera reports downloads have trippled in several countries since the introduction of the browser choice
So, 3 people downloaded it in Greece! ;-)

LOL!

[UserFriendly]

Every one of those minor browsers is just a derivative using one or more of the Gecko, Trident or WebKit rendering engines, so why should they take priority over the browsers that created and maintain those engines?

I say the derivatives belong at the back of the line.

[Gomvents]

Why do the derivatives belong there at all? I made a browser based on FireFox, similar to Flock, can I be listed there?

[KenB]

I agree, derivative browsers don't even belong on the list, however, if they are their they should be listed AFTER the primary browsers for all the rendering engines.

An IE skin IS NOT a web browser.

[sgietz]

We made Microsoft give people a choice in browsers. Now we argue over in which order they should be listed.

If it was me, I would list them alphabetically and give users the option to sort them by various other criteria (e.g. popularity).

I bet in six months we'd see a new browser named Aardvark :D

[Gomvents]

sgietz, or 123AAABrowser v1.0

[Trav]

Agreed on the general idea that they should be grouped by rendering engine, whether or not the user knows it. I have to believe that for 95% of browser-users, the rendering engine is irrelevant to their choice however. I just think it's interesting that the design solution was horizontal scrolling, a method that's almost universally hated and advised-against. It's M$'s way of saying, "enjoy".

[Fotiman]

@TamanRoyal

I think they are sort by most installed.

If that were the case, Opera would be listed AFTER Chrome and Safari.

[TheMadScientist]

From the Article Linked in This Thread:
[webmasterworld.com...]

In keeping with our agreement with the European Commission, this list is presented in random order.

[wildbest]

I have installed IE, FF and Chrome but find myself using mostly Opera recently. It is fast and clean.

Oh, and I'm not in Greece! ;-)

[albo]

Jeez, why not just point the installers to evolt.org and tell'em to install one of hundreds of browsers? Then wait hours for Win7 to install... (Ya gotta draw the line, somewhere.)

[JS_Harris]

Since Microsoft takes no responsibility for the design of other browsers you would think the other browsers would be less secure... yet... IE is the most security patched browser that still has major warnings of all time.

Whooda thunk.

[sgietz]

Other browsers are more secure, because no hacker is going to spend days or weeks writing a virus that will only affect those three people in Greece.

[blend27]

so what's keeping someone from changing a User Agent String then? I have recently solved an issue of someone getting into Wachovia Banking online by simply changing UA. Original UA Opera(none supported as per website), new UA Firefox. I love me some Tiramisu(italian sweets) once in a while but this was a home-run.

[MaxthonGuy]

Just to get the record straight, Maxthon is not a skin for Internet Explorer. The Trident rendering engins accounts for only about 30 percent of the code in Maxthon. The rest of the code offers features you don't find on I.E.--or other browsers--such as detachable videos, info collector, undo, split screens, detachable tabs, and far better security.

[tedster]

Welcome to the forums, MaxthonGuy - and thanks for stopping in and clarifying things. It's always good to hear an "official word" on any issue.

[edited by: tedster at 6:44 pm (utc) on Mar 6, 2010]

[PCInk]

So they are complaining about free publicity?

Simple. Drop them. That leaves just six browsers on offer and that is easier to give equal prominence to each.

[futureX]

TBH, the ones that are after the fold are pretty much niche browsers, as shown by their already minuscule market share people don't want them.

I'm not saying that they're bad browsers, I'm just saying that Microsoft (although they were forced) have a duty to show people the most relevant and successful browsers. There are more browsers available than even those after the fold, where's your crying heart for them.

All browsers are not created equal.

[g1smd]

As a long time Seamonkey user (also Safari and Opera from time to time), I'm liking K-Meleon a lot. Doubt if I would have tried it, had it not been for 'the list'.

Google Analytics simply reports it as 'Mozilla' though.