Browser ballot rejigged after complaints

 

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By Stuart Turton

Posted on 9 Mar 2010 at 09:08

Microsoft has overhauled its browser ballot screen, after receiving complaints that it failed to sufficiently randomise the position of the top five browsers.

The ballot offers users a choice of 12 browsers when Windows starts, with the big five - Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, Safari and Opera - appearing in random positions on the main screen.

Last week, reports surfaced that Internet Explorer was appearing more frequently on the right hand of the screen, while Chrome landed the prized first spot.

We can confirm that we made a change to the random icon order algorithm in the browser choice screen for Europe. We are confident the algorithm change will be an improvement

Conspiracy theories were quickly doused by IBM engineer Rob Weir who claimed the issue was caused by a "rookie mistake in the code" and dismissed "nefarious intent".

Microsoft says it's tweaked the code to eliminate the bug. "We can confirm that we made a change to the random icon order algorithm in the browser choice screen for Europe," said Kevin Kutz, director of public affairs for Microsoft.

"We are confident the algorithm change will be an improvement. As always, we are grateful for the feedback we get from developers, and we thank those who commented on the topic and suggested changes."

The browser ballot is Microsoft's concession to the EU, which found the company guilty of anti-competitive practices by bundling Internet Explorer with Windows.

Microsoft is still facing dissent from smaller browser makers, who have complained that their offerings are pushed out of sight on the right-hand side of the ballot, requiring people to scroll across to find them. They're pushing the EU to force Microsoft to amend the screen.