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In a landmark development Microsoft has agreed to offer Windows users an option to choose browser after connecting to internet for the first time after installing windows. This declaration ends the long drawn battle between European Union and Microsoft over anti-trust issues. The issue was that with a pre installed browser in its Operating system Windows was discouraging fair competition.
Most of our readers would be aware that Internet Explorer comes bundled with every Windows platform, may it be Windows OS for PC or Windows Mobile for smart phones.
Browser market share has historically been an Internet Explorer playground but the trend is changing lately. Firefox is breathing down Microsoft’s neck with almost half of the market share to its now. Chrome, Safari and Opera are other tough contenders and combined make up for 12.5 % of the market. The rest is still with Internet Explorer (6,7,8). The chart below will give you a clear idea of recent and current browser market share.
Browser Statistics Month by Month
(src: http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_stats.asp)
| 2009 | IE8 | IE7 | IE6 | Firefox | Chrome | Safari | Opera |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| November | 13.3% | 13.3% | 11.1% | 47.0% | 8.5% | 3.8% | 2.3% |
| October | 12.8% | 14.1% | 10.6% | 47.5% | 8.0% | 3.8% | 2.3% |
| September | 12.2% | 15.3% | 12.1% | 46.6% | 7.1% | 3.6% | 2.2% |
| August | 10.6% | 15.1% | 13.6% | 47.4% | 7.0% | 3.3% | 2.1% |
| July | 9.1% | 15.9% | 14.4% | 47.9% | 6.5% | 3.3% | 2.1% |
| June | 7.1% | 18.7% | 14.9% | 47.3% | 6.0% | 3.1% | 2.1% |
| May | 5.2% | 21.3% | 14.5% | 47.7% | 5.5% | 3.0% | 2.2% |
| April | 3.5% | 23.2% | 15.4% | 47.1% | 4.9% | 3.0% | 2.2% |
| March | 1.4% | 24.9% | 17.0% | 46.5% | 4.2% | 3.1% | 2.3% |
| February | 0.8% | 25.4% | 17.4% | 46.4% | 4.0% | 3.0% | 2.2% |
| January | 0.6% | 25.7% | 18.5% | 45.5% | 3.9% | 3.0% | 2.3% |
With this new ruling Microsoft is to roll out updates that will ask users to choose from among a list of important browsers. This will at least give other competitors a chance to reach the user. According to Jon von Tetzchner, chief executive of Opera –
This decision is also a celebration of open web standards, as these shared guidelines are the necessary ingredients for innovation on the web.
This is a victory for the future of the web.
Microsoft enjoyed market dominance for a long time for being the default browser on the most popular operating system. Though there are better browsers that are user friendly and technically advanced, they could not reach the public eye. Now things are changing for good and such fair trade rulings will help change things for better.
