Microsoft allowing users to choose their browser

It has been announced that soon in Europe there will be an update released (as part of Windows Update) that when installed will inform users that they have a choice to make – which browser would they like to use?

This choice is completely unbiased – the user is informed on the first screen what they are doing (i.e. choosing their default browser) and then on the following screen will have a first level selection of 5 browsers to choose from (there are additional choices – who knows what), namely Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft Internet Explorer, Opera & Safari.

No since IE currently has about a 50% market share, this is likely to be the portion of the browser market that is up for grabs. Anyone who has already been educated into the choice of browser – i.e. that there is one and that they don’t have to just click on Internet Explorer and use that to broser the web, will most likely have already made a choice and will probably stick with it – this prompt isn’t likely to change their mind much. That plus this is only for IE users – those that have chosen Chrome or Firefox shouldn’t see it.

So what about the rest – the 50% that’s up for grabs? Well to me it would seem that these are the people who are unaware that there are other choices out there or possibly just don’t have a need to change (either they can’t be bothered or haven’t been motivated to through IE vulnerabilities for example). For the people that don’t know about the options, I think that this will be something that will make them stop and consider the options. They aren’t likely to just scan across the list (which is displayed in a random order) and pick IE – they are likely to look and make an uninformed or slightly informed choice. For this reason they aren’t likely to choose IE – if they have limited computing experience they aren’t likely to be fans of MS, more likely they are border of staring at the Windows flag while waiting for their aging PC to boot so they can check their email. Or they’ve heard or experienced the horrors of BSOD – not something that’s likely to make them choose MS’s offering.

So which would they select? My money is on either Chrome or Firefox. Mainly because Firefox is the biggest name in the browser market but even more important, Google is the biggest name on the Internet, making them much more likely to ring a bell with the novice and gain their vote. Secondly – they look and sound cooler than the others on the list. Style is as important as anything else dont-cha know.

It’ll be interesting to see how this affects the browser shares in Europe over the coming months. If nothing changes that just goes to show that I was right and Windows update should be forced on people.