Browser bonanza
The European Commission has issued a press release welcoming the release by Microsoft of a browser ballot screen for all PCs that have its Internet Explorer browser as the default.
As has already been extensively covered, Microsoft offered the concession in response to a lengthy antitrust investigation looking into the effect on web browser competition of Microsoft making IE the default on all Windows PCs.
"Web browsers are the gateway to the internet," said Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia. "Giving consumers the possibility to switch or try a browser other than that included in Windows will bring more competition and innovation in this important area to the benefit of European internet users. More competition between web browsers should also boost the use of open web standards which is critical for the further development of an open internet."
As well as the usual suspects like Firefox, Chrome and, of course, IE, there are a total of 12 browser choices, many of which we'd not encountered before. You can have a look at the screen here, but we've also listed all the choices, with links, below for your convenience. We'd like to hear from anyone who has used some of the lesser-known ones.
On the screen, the order is randomised, but the first five are always the first five.
