Microsoft revamps browser ballot as EU antitrust deal nears

From InfoWorld: Microsoft has revamped the browser ballot screen demanded by European Union antitrust regulators and may get final approval as early as Dec. 15, a source familiar with the case told Computerworld today.

As first reported Thursday by the Bloomberg news service , Microsoft modified the ballot screen after rivals, including Opera Software and Mozilla, demanded changes. Last month, Opera, Mozilla, and Google, which make the Opera, Firefox, and Chrome browsers, respectively, submitted change requests to the European Commission, asking that the order of the browsers be randomized and that the ballot be displayed in its own application, not in Internet Explorer.

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.

Previously, Microsoft had tweaked the ballot to gain the commission's preliminary approval in October. Microsoft first agreed to the ballot approach last July as a way to resolve the case.

According to the source, who asked not to be identified because the terms of the settlement have not been officially approved, the top five browsers -- IE, Firefox, Chrome, Opera and Apple's Safari -- will appear in random order each time the ballot is displayed.

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