News Opera, Mozilla call Win 7 anti-competitive

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/bits/2009/05/08/opera-mozilla-call-windows-7-anti-competiti/1

Browser developers Opera and Mozilla have accused Microsoft of anti-competitive behaviour over the Windows 7 update process, which resets the default browser to IE.

 

Oh boohoo..

Because it's SO hard to switch default browser.

I'm getting tired of this bitching and whining about Microsoft's supposed anti-competitiveness in the browser 'market'.

A free program? How dare they!

 

Anyone 'upgrading' deserves to be tricked into using IE...

 

Lol I don't even use IE for downloading Firefox. I download the installer before reinstalling Win.

And also I have a portable version on my usb stick so I can use it wherever I go

 

i'm bored....... if the user believes firefox or opera are better, then i'm sure the user will switch back, just stop bitching

 

It's not that, we are all understanding of the dynamics of browser switching.

Now do the same to your grandma. Will she know what's happened, or will she just meander along with IE?

Think on it for a second, these choices aren't about those of us who know what we're doing, it's about those that don't.

 

i'm bored of this too. it's still not clear to me what the "so what" of having YOUR browser running rather than someone ELSE's. it's so easy to change default search engines, so building a frickin' browser to "guide" people to your own seems like a bit of a waste of time to me.

 

But if grandma starts using IE and she hardly notices the difference, what's the big deal? Just let her carry on.

Personally upgrading to Windows 7 will be what forces me away from IE. I like IE7, but IE8 is a PITA to use. If there was a 'make it work like IE7' button, I'd be happy.

But unless there are significant changes to IE8 by the time Windows 7 is released, I think I'll move over to something else.

 

I can understand both sides of the argument on this to a degree but at the end of the day what do you expect MS to do? We're only talking about the express upgrade option here, if MS let users choose all of there custom settings in the express option it would hardly be "express" any more more would it! It would be "custom" and I guess that's what the custom option is for! And lets be honest, if a user is so computer illiterate that they can't figure out how to change the default browser, it's fairly unlikely they are going to try and upgrade Windows by them self. They would get a knowledgeable friend to help them. Most people don't bother "upgrading" at all, they just wait until they next buy a new PC, then it's set to IE by default anyway. Which is the way it should be because it's Microsoft Windows, not Mozilla/Opera Windows!

I really don't understand a lot of this "anti-competitive" rubbish. People complain that Windows lacks features, so third party companies release software to fill in the gaps. Fair enough. But then when MS listens to it's customers and includes new features, people complain that it's anti-competitive! There is no pleasing some people. Just because it comes with the software in the box doesn't mean you have to use it. If it didn't come with a browser or a media player etc, all these computer illiterates you're trying to save wouldn't be able to do half the stuff they want to because they wouldn't be able to figure out how to get the internets or their Lionel Richie CD's to work would they. Stop whining and have a beer! Then find something important to complain about like the state of the economy, or the situation in the middle east or something.

 

What is it that you're finding tricky about IE8 that you didn't with IE7? Having used both i'm far happier with IE8 than I was with IE7.

 

Have you met an average/typical computer user before?? "Where did my Orange internet icon go? Oh well, I guess I will just use the blue one" ...

This hasn't and never will be about power/advanced users.

 

I never have got this arguement. Windows is a Microsoft software program IE is a Microsoft program why shouldn't they bundle it together? The users have a choice about which OS to use and they choose Microsoft's software with everything else that is incorporated in to the package. Any other browser is an ALTERNATIVE. That means it is your choice to use IE or any other browser. You are not stopped from switching. As for the Grandma issue, if Grandma doesn't understand then it is most likely that Grandma did not install FF. With all this continued hype and anti MS publicity it is starting to feel like I am being forced to use a different browser just for the sake of it.

Maybe search engine companies should complain about Mozilla's Firefox program automatically starting with Google as its home page. Is that not the same issue?

 

QQ :/

If someone's switched their default browser in Vista, they know enough to switch it in 7.

 

Quite unlikely since IE8 RTMed for XP and 2003. Only thing that'll change between RC1 and RTM for IE8 on Windows 7 are bug fixes.

 

surely no non tech people will upgrade their PCs anyway .. they'll just get a new PC with an OEM install on.

Also - boo hoo that it changes defaults back to.. SHOCK THEIR ORIGINAL DEFAULT.. i bet it changes some filetypes to reopen into original settings as well. It's like.. wait for it.. the new os using its default settings *shock* *sigh* Mozilla should stfu clearly.

 

I think Mozilla and Opera are going a little OTT here.
So what if they have IE installed already? Its like linux only having FF pre-installed. Maybe we should sue mozilla for that?

 

Love Linux. Love Firefox.
But this quote is still win.

 

Sorry but MS is entitled to do that. As for poor old Grandma, IE8 is a good browser, yes i believe Firefox is better but i'm not worried about others who may not know of alternatives using IE.

 

Ha ha ha thats a very good point!
And if they can work out how to upgrade from Vista to W7 then they must have enough intelligence to work out how to change default browser.

 

Mostly it's down to the tabs. They don't open in the same way that they do under IE7 (or at least I haven't found to make them do so). The ordering of them is just messed up. In IE7, if I open links from Google, they just open one after another. If I then open a link from one of those sites, it sits next to the parent site it was opened from. IE8 just seemed to put tabs one after the other with no logical order.

The colour coding is also confusing initially. Whoever thought that colour coding tabs red was a good idea should be fired. I just looked at them and thought there was some kind of security/phishing thing going on that IE was trying to warn me about!

The new auto complete features are also rather excessive. I don't want it listing absolutely every address/search term that I've used as soon as I click in a search box.