Microsoft Windows users in the European Union will soon see a "browser ballot" that lets them choose one of several Web browsers to use, after months of deliberation and political posturing.
An agreement between Microsoft and the European Commission will lead to the screen rolling out this week in the United Kingdom, France and Belgium. More than 30 EU nations will receive the screen starting in the next couple of weeks during a massive rollout.
Microsoft previously offered to ship its Windows 7 OS without a browser -- but the two sides compromised on a ballot choice instead of no installations at all.
"Internal testing of the choice screen is underway now," said Dave Heiner, Microsoft Deputy General Counsel, in a blog post. "We'll begin a limited roll-out externally next week, and expect that a full scale roll-out will begin around March 1, a couple of weeks ahead of schedule."
The top five most used browsers will be displayed to users in the ballot screen randomly, according to Microsoft and the EC. There was a proposal to show the choices alphabetically, but that would have given an unfair advantage to several browsers. Three Microsoft rivals complained about the alphabetized list -- especially since it was shown inside an IE window -- so other adjustments had to be made.
IE and Mozilla Firefox lead the browser market with 45.4 and 39.3% marketshare, with No. 3 Opera expected to increase its 4.3% marketshare the most.
Opera may be popular among PC enthusiasts, but has failed to catch on with mainstream users.
IE and Firefox are expected to remain competitive, as the ballot screen may give Firefox a bigger opportunity with users. Meanwhile, Google's Chrome browser continues to gain share.
