Proposed Ballot Screen

This is Microsoft’s rendering of a proposed ballot screen that would give Windows users an easy way to install alternate browsers.

Under Microsoft’s proposal, this ballot screen would be accessed through client software delivered via Windows Update. If the user has picked Internet Explorer (IE) as his default browser, this ballot screen would launch the next time the user logs on after its installation. For all users, a reminder would appear within two weeks of installation notifying the user that the ballot screen is available. By default, an icon launching the ballot screen would be placed on the user’s desktop.

The five browsers with the greatest market share in the European Economic Area (EEA), as measured by a third-party source agreed on by the European Commission (EC) and Microsoft, would appear prominently on the ballot screen. Up to five additional browsers, with market share greater than 0.5%, would also appear in less prominent positions. Market share measurements would include all versions of a particular browser—for instance, Firefox 2.5, 3.0, and 3.5 would all count toward Firefox’s browser market share. No more than one browser per vendor would appear. Other than IE, no browser that is based on the IE rendering engine and is substantially funded or distributed by Microsoft would appear.