Opera Reports Downloads Doubled Since Microsoft Browser Choice Screen

[engine]

Opera Reports Downloads Doubled Since Microsoft Browser Choice Screen [news.bbc.co.uk]

Web browser Opera says that downloads of its software have doubled since Microsoft introduced browser choice to Windows users on 1 March.

A screen offering users the chance to switch browser is rolling out across Europe as part of a Windows update.

Opera says that in Poland 77% of downloads have come from the screen.

The number of copies downloaded in Poland were up by 328% on normal levels in the three days Opera analysed, between 12 and 14 March.

Browser Makers Want Better Exposure On Microsoft Browser Choice Screen [webmasterworld.com]

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

[incrediBILL]

This is great news!

If goes to show you that if people are offered choices they might try other things.

Now if the EU would just expand the policy to include Email and Office, also bundled on the PC, since the alternatives are often either better and/or FREE, maybe people would start to have some real choices.

[bill]

That's very good news. The more Opera users the better. ;)

Now if the EU would just expand the policy to include Email and Office, also bundled on the PC

Email and Office are not bundled into PCs by Microsoft. That's the choice of the vendor to add for the convenience sake of their customers.

[webcreationuk]

I have no idea why they had to wait for Microsoft to release that "switch browser" idea. If they wanted Opera, couldn't they use it even before Microsoft asked that?

Weird people out there...

[incrediBILL]

Email and Office are not bundled into PCs by Microsoft. That's the choice of the vendor to add for the convenience sake of their customers.

There's been an email client bundled into Windows for years.

I should know, I worked for the previous #1 email client M$ destroyed by giving it away.

I also worked at Lotus when we had a competing office suite.

No axe to grind here ;)

Besides, MS doesn't charge for the browser either so why de-bundle the browser since it's not costing the customer anything and everyone gives browsers away?

M$ didn't steal the browser industry, Netscape gave it away with increasingly buggy and crashing software, for that M$ should be punished?

Look how many years it took for anyone else to get a quality competing product that started reclaiming marketshare and now the EU is doing it by force which isn't right either.

My point is, if you're going to stop bundling browser which is free and doesn't penalize M$ in the least, let's do the consumers a REAL favor by showing them other options and maybe stem the tide of Office revenue which would actually teach them a lesson about their aggressive behavior toward other companies.

I have no idea why they had to wait for Microsoft to release that "switch browser" idea. If they wanted Opera, couldn't they use it even before Microsoft asked that?

Unless you're a nerd or a software geek you probably wouldn't know what Opera is except bad foreign shrieking music that invokes instant narcoleptic-like sleep.

My daughter didn't know what Open Office was until I told her, it's that spreading the word thing.

[edited by: incrediBILL at 5:53 am (utc) on Mar 19, 2010]

[bill]

Actually Opera were the ones who introduced that idea that the EU forced on Microsoft. It was never MS's intention to do this.

[Mitchman]

Mail is not included in Windows 7. As for MS, they have a long history of anti-trust cases against them and are still under surveillance by the US Justice Department after losing their anti-trust case a few years back, so this is not just in Europe. Fortunately for MS, Bush stopped what would have been much stricter restrictions against them.
See [thetc.org...] for more details.

[ChanandlerBong]

so their downloads have gone from 50 to 100. ;-)

seriously though, it's not THAT tough to do some dramatic statistical boosting of your figures from such a low base point.

[JAB Creations]

I so can't wait to see March's browser market share statistics! :)

- John

[sgietz]

"Hey sweetie, what's that red O on the desktop?"

"Umm, Windows asked me to download one of these programs, so I did."

"Right. Now could you please get Internet Explorer, or FireFox? I wanna get online!"

OK, all jokes aside, I don't want to see download stats. I want to see usage stats!

[weeks]

OK, all jokes aside, I don't want to see download stats. I want to see usage stats!

Yeah, I test sites on Opera and try to use it every now and then. Only recently has the browser handled all sites as well as FF. For example, I use a email marketing service with a web interface that Opera, until this last release, could not handle.

I cannot recommend Opera yet.

[graeme_p]

Yeah, I test sites on Opera and try to use it every now and then.

Opera 10 has handled every site I have tried. I prefer Firefox because of the extensions, other than that Opera is a very nice browser.