Windows EU Ballot Screen Glitch Killed 6-9 Million Firefox DLs
Is the EU's persistence on upfront browser choices when installing Windows just a nuisance?
Occasionally the EU's rather aggressive stance with huge penalty threats may come across as being petty, but Microsoft's slip in complying with an order had some real world impact.
Mozilla's Harvey Anderson posted a chart of Firefox downloads, which visualizes the impact of Microsoft's decision and the fact that the browser choice was a no-show for about 15 months. Anderson claims that Firefox downloads plummeted by 63 percent to just 20,000 downloads per day, but increased by 150 percent to about 50,000 when the fix was implemented. As a result, Mozilla believes that it lost somewhere between 6 to 9 million browser downloads.
"After accounting for the aggregate impact on all the browser vendors, it seems like this technical glitch decreased downloads and diminished the effectiveness of the remedy ordered in the 2009 Commitments," Anderson wrote.
The value of 9 million missed browser downloads may be difficult to assess and since Mozilla is believed to receive a flat fee for the traffic it provides to Google. Much of the impact could be seen as additive to its declining market share, which hit a new low in October, according to StatCounter (22.32 percent). Google, was clearly not significantly impacted, even if one could easily argue that Microsoft's deletion of the browser choice screen helped soften the market share decline of Internet Explorer.
It's a blurry argument, but we know the EU follows through with investigations and the hefty fines it talks about. Breaking an agreement most certainly will not work in Microsoft's favor.
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Wolfgang Gruener is an experienced professional in digital strategy and content, specializing in web strategy, content architecture, user experience, and applying AI in content operations within the insurtech industry. His previous roles include Director, Digital Strategy and Content Experience at American Eagle, Managing Editor at TG Daily, and contributing to publications like Tom's Guide and Tom's Hardware.
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-Fran- Well, the court decision has a good reason behind it. MS screwing the implementation of it is just stupidity.Reply
I mean, for all complexity around software these days, a pop up with a few links is not in the high difficulty list. There is no excuse for MS on this one and if FF can prove those numbers to the court, MS could still be in for more pain.
And no, the EU's calls on these subjects favor the common folk, so they're not a nuisance. Companies should comply and work them out as instructed.
Cheers! -
jimmysmitty YukaWell, the court decision has a good reason behind it. MS screwing the implementation of it is just stupidity.I mean, for all complexity around software these days, a pop up with a few links is not in the high difficulty list. There is no excuse for MS on this one and if FF can prove those numbers to the court, MS could still be in for more pain.And no, the EU's calls on these subjects favor the common folk, so they're not a nuisance. Companies should comply and work them out as instructed.Cheers!Reply
I don't disagree that companies should work for the common folk but do you ever wonder as to why Microsoft is the only company made to do this?
Why hasn't the EU made Apple do it for OSX? It comes preloaded with Safari, Apples browse. Same with Android (sure a smartphone OS but still very big) which now comes with Chrome as the default browser. For both people are free to use whatever they want but if they don't care, the browser is there for them to use.
So why then is it that MS has to comply with this and not any other major PC/OS company? In all fairness I would think they would.
Of course I am sure it wont happen and Microsoft will probably get into more trouble with Windows 8 since it incorporated MSE (as Defender) into the OS, which is great for me as I use MSE. Soon Windows in the EU will have popups to offer browser, media player, anti-virus and many other alternatives. -
olaf Shitty Browser choice screen, the one time i forgot to deselect the update it kept appearing every time i would boot up windows .... annoying nuisance....Reply -
-Fran- jimmysmittyI don't disagree that companies should work for the common folk but do you ever wonder as to why Microsoft is the only company made to do this?Why hasn't the EU made Apple do it for OSX? It comes preloaded with Safari, Apples browse. Same with Android (sure a smartphone OS but still very big) which now comes with Chrome as the default browser. For both people are free to use whatever they want but if they don't care, the browser is there for them to use.So why then is it that MS has to comply with this and not any other major PC/OS company? In all fairness I would think they would.Of course I am sure it wont happen and Microsoft will probably get into more trouble with Windows 8 since it incorporated MSE (as Defender) into the OS, which is great for me as I use MSE. Soon Windows in the EU will have popups to offer browser, media player, anti-virus and many other alternatives.Reply
Market share... I think that was the reason.
But yeah, I agree with the "more companies should" as well. There should be more under the eye of the EU commission. And I think there are :P
Cheers! -
mrmez Hate M$, but the EU should just p!ss off when it comes to things like this.Reply
It's a ridiculous notion that ANY company should be forced to help its competition. -
ohim YukaWell, the court decision has a good reason behind it. MS screwing the implementation of it is just stupidity.I mean, for all complexity around software these days, a pop up with a few links is not in the high difficulty list. There is no excuse for MS on this one and if FF can prove those numbers to the court, MS could still be in for more pain.And no, the EU's calls on these subjects favor the common folk, so they're not a nuisance. Companies should comply and work them out as instructed.Cheers!Been using Windows since 3.11 , currently Windows 8 , i have no ballot screen and can manually install any browser i want, i live in Europe and all i have to say is SCREW YOU EUROPE! (or at least the guys who had this bright ideea with this ballot screen), i said it many times before .. OSX has it`s own browser, EU has no problem there. IE is not the browser king anymore and don`t tell me because of this crap that EU tries to put in MS`s OS.Reply
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shqtth If anything, if there is a ballot screen, then it should give a choice to download a web browser from a company that needs the market share like Opera (not Safari/Firefox/Chrome) or a web browser that not for profit (firebox/opera). Google and Apple are Microsofts direct competitor in a lot of ways, while firefoox or Opera only competes in 1 way.Reply
I think if Google and Apple wants their web browser to be included in the ballot selection screen, the should pay for it. Why should they get something for free?
If anything, google doesn't need more help, and its in a position to kill all competition.
I don't think its fair a company is ordered too give another company a free lunch,
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shqtth Firefox lost nothing. Did they pay for it? then if they not pay for it, they lost nothing......Reply
One reason why I never installed firefox is too many web pages were telling I should install firefox to make this web page look better, so I installed Opera instead.
Now too many web pages and software and trying to get me to install Chrome, and those web pages can go f themselves.
Instead of all these web pages wasting time telling people what to install, they should just make their web page look better for existing visitors.
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Vladislaus ohim(or at least the guys who had this bright ideea with this ballot screen)It was Microsoft that came with the idea of the ballot screen.Reply
ohimOSX has it`s own browser, EU has no problem there.OSX doesn't have a market share in excess of 90%.