G'day, y'all!
Under pressure from the European Union, Microsoft is testing a possible future implementation of a system used for picking the initial installed web browser on Windows boxes. Now, as good Mac users, I'm certain there's initial temptation to say "Why should I give a flying dog's bollocks about this?" but I'm just discussing this because I'd heard about it, did some poking around, and thought it would be worth at least a bit of reaction from the Mac crowd here.
Anyhow, here's a screenshot of what's proposed by Microsoft.
Now, to be fair, Microsoft
has listed the browsers alphabetically by manufacturer (in this case, Apple, Google, Microsoft, Mozilla, Opera). However -- and the whole point of this thread is that -- they are now taking flak from one of Firefox's developers, Jenny Boriss, who
on her blog has complained about the arrangement because of it being now biased towards Apple. She says in part:
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Jenny Boriss
This ordering is about the worst option possible, both for user choice and the web as a whole. Microsoft wrote in their proposal that “nothing in the design and implementation of the Ballot Screen and the presentation of competing web browsers will express a bias for a Microsoft web browser or any other web browser,” but this is exactly what the current design does. Windows users presented with the current design will tend to make only two choices: IE because they are familiar with it, or Safari because it is the first item.
Users selecting the IE logo because it is the image they associate with using the internet isn’t too surprising. After all, many users do not know or care that other browser are available. But the disproportionate advantage to Safari is what really makes this design poor.
The problem is that for the user, screens such as this one are a roadblock to the task they they actually want to perform (in this case, using the internet). And, as Asa notes, the most common user behavior when confronted by a roadblock is to take the action they believe will most effectively remove it. Because of this, in user experience design it’s standard practice to present two paths through a setup: a well-marked “express” path of giant buttons and recommended options presented first in lists, and the “advanced” path for users interested in tailoring their configuration. This allows users who do not want to configure options to quickly get the setup that is designed for most people. By presenting Safari as the first item in a list, this ballot implies that it is the item recommended to most users.
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So, my question to you folks is simply this: What is your own opinion about Ms. Boriss' comments, and what do you think of Microsoft's ballot proposal?