Proposal 'will be entirely ineffective,' says trade group as EU tries to wrap up browser antitrust case
By Gregg Keizer
September 28, 2009 06:32 AM ET

Computerworld - Microsoft faces more criticism over the browser "ballet screen" proposal it made to European antitrust regulators, possibly delaying a deal, the Wall Street Journal said Sunday.

According to a story published on the newspaper's Web site, the European Committee for Interoperable Systems (ECIS), a trade group whose members include Norwegian browser maker Opera Software, argued that the ballot screen concept would confuse users.

In late July, Microsoft said it would give Windows users a chance to download rivals' browsers, part of its campaign this year to mollify the European Commission, the EU's antitrust agency, which filed charges in January 2009 accusing the company of shielding Internet Explorer (IE) from competition by bundling it with Windows.

A key part of that plan would be a "ballot screen" that EU Windows users would see if IE was set as the default browser. Under Microsoft's proposal, the ballot would offer links to downloads of Mozilla's Firefox, Apple's Safari, Google's Chrome and Opera's flagship Opera.

This summer, the commission issued questionnaires to those competitors, as well as to computer makers and others, asking for opinions on the Microsoft proposal.

Although at least one rival browser maker, U.S.-based Mozilla, has said it wanted changes made to Microsoft's proposal, the ECIS is the first to publicly acknowledge it has officially informed the commission of its concerns.

Choosing another browser requires "the user to confirm and answer threatening and confusing warnings and questions," Thomas Vinje, an attorney and spokesman for the ECIS, told the Journal. "Microsoft has cunningly found a way to accept the commission's suggestion of a ballot screen, but to do so in a way that will be entirely ineffective."

Vinje did not reply to a request Sunday for further comment.

Under Microsoft's proposal, Windows 7 users would receive an update starting Oct. 22, the new operating system's official launch date, or two weeks after the commission rules, whichever comes later. Windows XP and Vista users will be on a slower schedule: Microsoft said it would give them the ballot screen three to six months after EU regulators sign off on the plan.

In April, the ECIS was granted "interested third party" status in the case, allowing it to obtain the EU's charges against Microsoft and to comment on the action. Previously, both Mozilla, which makes Firefox, and Google, the creator of Chrome, had also been awarded the same status.

Opera Software was already involved in the case; it's December 2007 complaint to the commission sparked the antitrust investigation.

The ECIS's criticisms may put the brakes on a deal, which EU officials had hinted last week might be near. Neelie Kroes, the head of the EU's antitrust agency, told the New York Times on Sept. 22 that she hoped to "close that dossier," referring to the Microsoft browser case, before her term expires at the end of October. A resolution before then may be more difficult against opposition, especially if the ECIS's comments have been echoed by Microsoft's competitors.

By Jasper Bakker
September 29, 2009 09:07 AM ET

A group of Microsoft Corp. rivals has demonstrated to European Union antitrust regulators a browser ballot screen that they say would be fairer than the one Microsoft proposed.

The ballot screen will allow Windows users to choose a browser for their PC as settlement of an antitrust case that forbids Microsoft from tying its Internet Explorer browser with its Windows operating system.

The new ballot screen demonstrated by the European Committee for Interoperable Systems (ECIS) runs as a separate application, rather than as a page within Internet Explorer like the one Microsoft proposed. ECIS is one of a number of organizations that have the status of interested third parties, allowing them to play a role in the European Commission's antitrust action against Microsoft.

"Our programmer made this app in two days. It was his first C# (sharp) application," said Ashwin van Rooijen, an associate at law firm Clifford Chance, which represents the ECIS in the case. The native Windows application is made to overcome hurdles that Microsoft's competitors see in the ballot screen that the Windows maker has proposed.

Microsoft's current proposal has some limitations, Van Rooijen told Dutch publication Webwereld. "IE is still bundled with Windows, it's still built in. Even when the user chooses a different browser to be the default. Also, that alternative browser needs to be downloaded."

"That could be acceptable, were it not for the fact that Microsoft's ballot screen is in Internet Explorer," he said.

The situation was visible in the screenshot that accompanied Microsoft's proposal back in July. Microsoft's proposed ballot screen will also be delivered to Windows XP and Vista users through Windows Update, if the commission accepts the proposal.

A bigger problem for Microsoft's competitors is the working of the proposed ballot screen: It is simply a local homepage that contains links to download locations for other browsers, which affect the ballot's usability.

"Each and every download in IE brings up a warning screen. Installing an application gives the user another warning. Those are hurdles for alternative browsers, hurdles that do not apply for IE," Van Rooijen said.

ECIS has filed this complaint with the antitrust regulators of the E.U. Rival browser makers Mozilla and Opera Software have protested the download-and-install process that would be required for their browsers by Microsoft's ballot screen.

"I have some experience programming in C++ so I can navigate through such a ballot screen, but my mother can't," said Van Rooijen, pointing to the difference between a technical PC user and the average consumer, who is repelled by a warning screen.

Those problems prompted the ECIS to make its own browser ballot screen and demonstrate it to E.U. antitrust regulators. The ECIS ballot is a native Windows application that does not confront users with warning screens, and instead performs an integrity check on the setup file of the chosen browser which will be downloaded by the ballot application.