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Multiple Browser Bundling With Windows Is Stupid

A recent article published at the Wall Street Journal suggests that EU officials are considering forcing Microsoft to include a bunch of web browsers into the operating system to dilute the advantage that Internet Explorer has so far. This could mean forcing Microsoft to add web browsers to the installation of the operating system or to offer the user a choice during installation to download and install another web browser.

Mu5afir6188d ago

Apparently people who are "stupid" don't want any choices when it comes to the browser they are going to use.

njr6188d ago

On every clean install of XP I install firefox, doesn't make a difference to me. I either use IE once or never if I saved the install.

The Lazy One6188d ago

for the same reason mcdonalds doesn't sell whoppers.

somekindofmike6188d ago

it's stupid because...

why stop with browsers, what about media players... I want to see itunes, winamp and every other media player preinstalled on a new PC /sarcasm

Arnon6187d ago (Edited 6187d ago )

Why would Microsoft pack products in their OS that are not made by Microsoft. That's why they give you IE. So you can go and DOWNLOAD them yourself.

edgeofblade6187d ago

It's stupid because these other companies come in and whine and complain their way into a market instead of doing the hard work. Microsoft has every right to include their own browser with their own operating system. I doesn't matter care how buggy it is... that's called a free market.

Silver3606187d ago

The manufacturer can include whatever they want to. Shoot I don't need to see 10 different isp's when installing.

player9116187d ago

I disagree with including extra browsers. I mean Microsoft is simply including a complete package. When you buy anything, you don't want to get home and open the box and find you need to buy a power adapter to charge the battery, or a controller to play with, or an engine to drive.

When I buy a product, I want a fully functional product out of the box. In terms of Windows, I mean Browser, media player, word editor, movie player, etc.

I think that the best solution would create a Core version. A version that is a stripped down version which could be distributed to those who don't want typical full blown windows. Maybe like "Windows: Lite".

Although I feel this could only become a marketing ploy to charge you extra for a normal version.

With Internet Explorer, true it may not be my first choice... but the benefit of installing Firefox is that if one fails to a virus, the other one can bail the other out. I've used firefox to bail out IE and vice versa. Plus some websites require IE.

I dunno. Gimme Gimme Gimme is all the corporations think about. Dipping their greedy monkey paws in other peoples pockets. Why does a government have any say so in a company's direction anyway?

+ Show (4) more repliesLast reply 6187d ago
Kakkoii6188d ago

It's stupid because other operating systems aren't forced to do this.

PotNoodle6188d ago

Other operating systems don't have 90% of the market share either.

sakuragi6188d ago

And other operating systems don't have the worst browser preinstalled with the system either. This is actually doing the consumers a big favour.

Mike134nl6188d ago

the judge should just say that they are free to develop their own OS to ship with their browsers.

The Lazy One6188d ago

Apple has 100% marketshare of the OSes on macs, and restrict you to apple certified hardware to include in the computers.

Apple is way worse when it comes to locking out competition on their platforms.

PotNoodle6188d ago

But in the world of personal computing, windows computers are still taking up 90% of the market.

Kakkoii6188d ago

It shouldn't matter how much of a market share they have. What, if Apple suddenly had 90% would they be forced to include something other than iTunes and Safari? And be forced to allow OEM to install OS X on non Mac computers?

This article sums up how you guys seem to be thinking:
http://n4g.com/industrynews...

edgeofblade6187d ago

So, deathrow wants to punish companies for being successful. That's a GREAAAAAAAAT economic theory. I'm sure people will be clamoring to make the next big thing after that.

If they have 90% of the marketshare, that's because people saw fit to buy their products. So, maybe we should be punishing the customers that made them so successful. How dare they...

+ Show (4) more repliesLast reply 6187d ago
Marty83706188d ago

Nothing wrong with having a choice of browsers, rather than having crappy IE forced on ya.

DevastationEve6188d ago

i don't know where the crappy stigma came from, but you DO know that ie 7 and 8 use what's called protected mode to keep malware and viruses quarantined in a virtualized folder, right? it's actually the most secure browser out there, so of course you're letting go of some javascript performance as it loads pages. but i'd rather have a secure browsing session than not.

Obama6188d ago

I use IE to download firefox anyways.

heyheyhey6188d ago

ha!

they should "downloading Google Chrome" into the pie chart thar...

used to be a Mozilla fanboy.. now it's Google Chrome all the way baby!

DevastationEve6188d ago (Edited 6188d ago )

opera is actually the best. firefox is buggy, and google chrome is good but not great.

ie 8 is pretty good too, and so is the new ie mobile that ships with window mobile 6.5, but opera wins them all. mobile, desktop, they even have an opera mini that accelerates pages on your mobile phone.

edit:

i don't know where the crappy stigma came from, but you DO know that ie 7 and 8 use what's called protected mode to keep malware and viruses quarantined to a virtualized folder, right? it's actually the most secure browser out there, so of course you're letting go of some javascript performance as it loads pages. but i'd rather have a secure browsing session (when needed) than not.

heyheyhey6188d ago (Edited 6188d ago )

Opera is ok

Google has the fastest Javascript performance though.. and has all sorts of cool features like the incognito/porn mode and dragging a tab into a seperate window

IE is the worst.. i don't see how you can deny that, it's so slow and crashes a lot, lacks features too...

gunnar29066188d ago (Edited 6188d ago )

@ApocalyPS3

What is the basis for your opinions?
Funny - but I as a WEB programmer simply hate IE!! I have to waste a lot of my time trying to get over its bugs. Microsoft has never followed W3 regulations, never meet its demands and, what the worst is, has never even tried it! IE 6 didn't support the most of W3 while Mozilla did. IE7 just a buggy piece of sh*t! iE 8 just a lil better, but also didnt support all regulations.
Microsoft's IE is now the main reason that doesnt let web technologies to develop. In my work i simply have to use only 10% of things that modern web-programming offers because 90% of them are not compatible with ie8.

Kakkoii6188d ago

Firefox on the performance level is better than Opera. And I don't know where this idea of it being buggy comes from. Not to mention the plethora of add-ons for it. So many I couldn't live without.

uie4rhig6187d ago

i'll have you know that Skyfire is THE best mobile browser

Arnon6187d ago

I could care less about that stuff. Mozilla used to be amazing but they kept adding on to it and now it's fat and clunky. I like Google Chrome the most, but..

The best browser I have ever used was Opera. That thing is so hard to crash. And when you're downloading a file, it stores it in it's own cache file. So if it DOES crash, it backs up the data that was currently downloaded in the cache, and begins the download from where it left off. That's a big feature for me. Because the internet is so unstable.

uie4rhig6187d ago (Edited 6187d ago )

besides, every browser has the potential of doing so, simply because there are internet download managers..

and yes i have tried opera.. you say that firefox has been added on and whatnot.. what do you think of opera? they have tooo many features if you ask me.. many of which many people don't use.. with firefox they added lots of greate and useful stuff.. and next to that you can still extend it using addons (if i recall correct, opera doesn't have addons).. i'd rather have firefox over opera.. however, i got a copy installed anyway to make sure that my web sites work in every browser.. yes i do love chrome much better.. simple and will support addons shortly, but i don't like google having all my history with them..

also.. i can't remember last time firefox crashed.. nor chrome, nor IE.. if you know how to use it and know what you're doing.. it won't crash on you.. end of..

edit: i forgot to mention, i do use IE, not as intensively tho, i mainly use it for web development (compatibility) and some limited stuff that is not possible on Firefox!

DevastationEve6187d ago (Edited 6187d ago )

skyfire is good since it loads flash, and i like to visit kongregate a lot and play some kongai (hails yeah). but i prefer opera mini since it leaves out the flash. if i'm going to view flash i'll use opera mobile. if i need fast page viewing and better scrolling, i'll use opera mini. but skyfire's good too.

edit @ arnon

that's why i like opera too, it can keep partial downloads in the event of a crash. it also has a torrent client builtin, and several themes that look awesome. plus there's the speed dial page, something safari recently ripped off. safari's nice but it's too apple themed.

...man, even limewire has a builtin browser now! i just keep it simple:

opera > ie 8 > firefox > safari > google chrome > ie 7

Kakkoii6187d ago

@Arnon, the only real noticeable change to Firefox has been the new location bar. Which can be changed back using:

https://addons.mozilla.org/...

+ Show (7) more repliesLast reply 6187d ago
ZeroX98766188d ago

microsoft is creating is Own OS and other web browsers want to force their way in, that's kinda weird. I'm using google chrome and firefox all the time, but having only IE for basic web browser isn't really a problem to most users.

On Mac OSX, If I remember correctly, there's no other web browser than safari. If you want another one, you still need to search for it.

if you build your own PC, you should have minimal knowledge in softwares available for windows.

Company like Dell, HP, Alienware, etc. could easily put other browsers on the first boot of their PCs (and Recovery Disc). That would be a nice option.

Show all comments (44)
70°

Microsoft Gaming Revenue Drops 7% Year-on-Year, Content and Services Down 5%, Xbox Hardware Down 33%

Microsoft announced its financial results for Q3 of fiscal year 2026, including an update on its gaming Xbox business and more.

Read Full Story >>
simulationdaily.com
Jin_Sakai10d ago (Edited 10d ago )

Not looking good. Hopefully Asha Sharma is able to turn Phil’s disaster around.

dveio10d ago

To me it's still quite remarkable how they can cash-in 5.3bn in revenue in a single quarter, since their hardware is basically dead.

Jingsing10d ago

The stock mark is what makes Microsoft remarkable, They have convinced every institutional and retail investor to just keep piling money into them. Like many big tech giants they are just a big growing pyramid scheme. As long as people keep dropping money into ETF's that cover the market Microsoft will always be liquid. At the same time it is completely stifling innovation and competition. People need to start being more discreet in how they invest their money as it's killing the system.

Tanktopmaster9210d ago

Once they re-evaluate exclusive all will be fine….

S2Killinit10d ago

Riiiiight because people will just flock back to them for one or two games per year.

Jingsing10d ago

15+ years of bad performance is what they call irreparable in business. It is time for them to sell off the assets and get out of entertainment.

Tanktopmaster9210d ago

These declines are on the back of extra revenue received from releasing games like Forza horizon 5 on PlayStation. So I’m being sarcastic here when I said they should go back to exclusives. Killing off a revenue stream from Ps5 sales will only make things worse

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50°

Report: Injustice 3 in Development at NetherRealm Studios

Thanks to the slip-up of an artist working on the title, we now have more evidence that a new Injustice game is in the works.

50°

Spiders Studio, Developers of GreedFall: The Dying World, Announce Liquidation of the Company

Spiders: "We're going to cut straight to the chase so you're not left wondering: After a long period without clear answers, we have received confirmation that Spiders is being liquidated.

What does it mean? This means the company as a whole no longer exists. We'll cease our functions immediately. The planned DLC will release via Nacon, and then-- well, that's it.

We're sorry that it's come to this and would like to thank each and every one of you for your support over the years.

If you have any questions or run into issues with your games, please contact Nacon directly as we'll no longer be able to reply."