On January 15, Microsoft was charged with seeking to hinder rivals by coupling its browser, Internet Explorer, with its Windows operating system. It was accused of abusing its market dominance by harming innovation and limiting consumer choice. After six-plus months of rope pulling, Microsoft gave in to European regulators and proposed a \"ballot screen\" solution which would prompt users to choose between several third party browsers on the system\'s first boot-up.

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Please explain what you mean by your challenge, "...Again, I ask you: Where is the damn line drawn?"

@RayBay: Read: http://www.techspot.com/news/35589-m...windows-7.html

That is linked in the first paragraph, but I will add one to the final sentence to minimize confusion. Thanks :).

And some of tomorrow's news:
- EU forces ballot screen for multimedia player in Windows 7
- EU forces ballot screen for MS notepad
- EU forces Antivirus ballot screen for MS Windows 7
- EU forces ballot screen for ballot screen layout in next MS OSes
- MS posts job offer for "Ballot Screen Specialist"

Exactly. There has to be a point where this stops or it becomes so obtrusive and confusing it actually *hurts* consumers.

I can't wait for the EU to fine Microsoft for collusion with other major browsers because they didn't list K-meleon and Lynx.

This is all window dressing for ***** politicians and bureaucrats who are convinced that the public is as dumb and lazy as they are. In truth, most computer users are capable of downloading whichever browser they want and saving Office documents to whichever format they want. (Perhaps having a menu screen with a choice of browsers is helpful for the bureaucrats who can't spell Firefox, Safari, Chrome or Opera.)

Government, by the mentally impaired, for the mentally impaired. That's what the 21st century has come to.

To bad losers. Microsoft has used it's illegal criminal monopoly long enough. Now when someone actually makes them play fair you whine about it. Operating systems are meant to run programs, not just the programs your company stole from others.

I'm not a great M$ lover, in fact I choose Cupertino over Redmond. But, I do believe that if a bunch of people create a product, develop it, market it to the level of market dominance, then hats off to them! They shouldn't be forced to compromise it by EU bureaucrats.

Sure some users lack knowledge and sophistication to make an informed choice, but really, you don't see Ford being forced to offer a GM engine to consumers in the name of 'fairness'.

No, I think the EU has got this wrong and found another way to generate tax revenue!

@Algoz: Amen.

And you people said I was stupid for saying these eballots would start showing up everywhere for even more dumb reasons.

WHAT NOW?

How about a MS ballot on installation to set whether it installs Windows or Linux and if Linux, with Gnome or KDE. That way, Ford could be forced to sell Kia, so to speak. But I suppose MS might possibly consider that unfair.

@ fwilliams

Dude, just go n observe any OS, whether Ubuntu or Mac OS X or any other.....

ALL come with the basic necessities installed to ensure a smooth usage ride. And if people have their preferences they do install stuff like Firefox. but for the other standard users, this entire thing is a bother. And it's only fair that MS provides its best to its consumers.

(in Mac u got Itunes (which sucks), Safari (whose windows version sux on mem) and all apps beginning with i, AND i hear absolutely NO complaints!)

socialists at their worst. And to think the USA is headed in the same direction.....

and I think we are further down that road than a lot of people realize....

What's so bad about these ballot screens? Its really annoying that Office 2007 saves in .docx that only Office07 can read! And who wants IE anyways? I love to have a choice and not having to uninstall tons of unwanted components from the OS, like IE.

Where does it say the EU is forcing/requesting this for Office?

Although not entirely similar, I find it extremely annoying to have IE presenting it's first time run dialogs so you can setup accelerators (IE8) but also a default search engine (there's the resemblance).

Instead I'd rather get a straight quick loading browser that I can use from scratch and download Firefox or any other alternative if I wished to do so. Adding a less intrusive way to inform users would at least be better.

The only ballot screen that I need is the one that says, "Would you ever like Windows to display a ballot screen? Y/N"

Of course 'N' would be the correct answer.

What's up with the free world EU? You make us Colonialists look like we're the ones with all the freedom now. We don't have this non-sense in our Operating Systems, and I'm proud of it! We get the product as the designers envisioned - the way that it should be.

You can "save" a document in older version formats. You don't "have" to save in docx format. OMG I hate lazy users... LOL

"...Again, I ask you: Where is the damn line drawn?"

Blurring editorial content with a (supposedly) journalistic article is amaturish and sloppy. If this is the news section of the site, it should contain a reporting-of-the-facts and just that, not opinion pieces. Unless you're Fox News that is.