For awhile now, Europe has finally been trying to get things straight with Microsoft, who has been monopolizing browser market for as long as we can remember.

The EU’s antitrust case, which kicked off last January, had been sparked by complaints filed by Opera in December 2007, when the Norwegian browser maker accused Microsoft of shielding IE from real competition by bundling it with Windows. To level the playing field, the commission wants Microsoft to let consumers decide which browser they use.

I think it’s fair to say that operating system manufacturers including Microsoft, Linux, and others, should now include options for computer users to select their own browser.

For example, every time I get a new Windows computer or install Windows, the first thing I do is to install Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome while dumping Internet Explorer.  That sorta gets annoying and to think others who are not computer-competent (those who don’t know how to download and install new browsers) are our stuck with Microsoft’s proprietary technology makes me mad.  And think of the additional benefits of not using vulnerable IE such as not getting worms and the chances of your computer being hacked decreasing.

Of course, this is only the case in Europe.   At best, this is not likely to happen overnight in other parts of the world including Asia and here in America. (where it really needs to happen)

I do highly like the idea of randomizing the browsers, that will make fair play for the browser market.

Hakon Wium Lie, Opera’s chief technology officer, agreed with Mozilla that randomizing the browsers on the ballot would be a better solution than Microsoft’s original idea, which was to list them alphabetically by maker, a move that would put Apple’s Safari in the preferred left-hand position. “Alphabetizing would just lead to opportunistic naming,” Lie said in early November. “We could call ourselves AAA Browser Maker and get the first spot.”

Still, too many people in the world have familiarized themselves with IE (as a result of Microsoft’s monopoly) and I don’t think it’s a fair game unless we take IE out completely for as long as they have taken out the competition.

via engadget