Posted by Todd Zywicki:
EU Considering Requiring an IE-Less Version of Windows:
http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2009_01_18-2009_01_24.shtml#1232577534
Apparently the European Union [1]is considering requiring Microsoft to
remove IE from the versions of Windows that it sells in Europe. This
despite the fact, as reported by the Competitive Enterprise Institute:
How would the average user even select a preferred browser in the
first place without a pre-installed browser? While OEMs could
always pre-install a browser, anyone who wanted to install (or
reinstall) a browserless version of Windows from scratch would need
to jump through hoops just to get online.
More to the point, Opera�s claim against Microsoft looks downright
absurd given the reality of today�s increasingly competitive
browser marketplace. Despite IE being bundled with Windows, Firefox
has gained significant ground on IE in recent years. Four years
ago, IE had 91% global market share, while Firefox hovered around
3.5%. Now, Firefox is almost at 21% market share, and IE recently
dropped below 70%.
Firefox�s ascent did not happen because of a mass exodus of users
from Windows to other operating systems. To be sure, Windows has
faltered a bit as of late, but Firefox has gained the following of
a massive number of Windows users who elected to download and
install Firefox as a replacement for Internet Explorer. This
illustrates that users are perfectly willing to pick their favorite
application for a given task, even if that means downloading a
third-party app on the Internet. Plenty of other programs, like VLC
and Google Desktop, have taken off among Windows users even though
these apps largely duplicate the functionality of bundled Windows
components.
I just finally switched to Firefox a couple of weeks ago and wish I
would've done it sooner. The only problem I seem to have is that
sometimes pdf documents won't open correctly. I've tried a couple of
things but none of them seem to work as a failsafe. If anyone has any
advice, please let me know!
References
1. http://cei.org/node/21524
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