IE Rivals Oppose Ballot-Screen Solution for EU

A recent report in the Wall Street Journal quotes the European Committee for Interoperable Systems (ECIS), an industry organization whose members include Opera, Adobe Systems, IBM, Oracle, Red Hat, and Sun Microsystems, says Microsoft's proposed "ballot screen" isn’t a solution.

According to ComputerWorld, Thomas Vinje, an attorney and spokesperson for the ECIS told the WSJ that choosing another browser requires "the user to confirm and answer threatening and confusing warnings and questions."

"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," said Vinje.

The news comes just a few weeks after Mozilla Foundation chair Mitchell Baker criticized the ballot proposal. In a blog post, Baker argued that the agreement still offers "Internet Explorer a uniquely privileged position on Windows installations," in that even if a user does not choose IE as their default browser on the ballot screen, a shortcut is still placed on the user's desktop.

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Jane McEntegart
Contributor

Jane McEntegart is a writer, editor, and marketing communications professional with 17 years of experience in the technology industry. She has written about a wide range of technology topics, including smartphones, tablets, and game consoles. Her articles have been published in Tom's Guide, Tom's Hardware, MobileSyrup, and Edge Up.