Recently, Microsoft published an article stating that the Browser Choice Update website is no longer working, as the obligations imposed by the European Commission have expired. Now, the new users won’t be able to see this website since it has been pulled by Microsoft after 5 years.
If you try and open the website, following message appears instead of the famous browser ballot box.
“This website was created by Microsoft in accordance with a decision issued by the European Commission in December 2009. The obligations imposed by the decision have now expired and Microsoft will no longer maintain this website. Microsoft encourages customers who want more information about web browsers or want to download another browser to do so by visiting the websites of web browser vendors directly.”
Browser Choice website discontinued
In December 2009, European Commission mandated Microsoft to launch platform where users could choose browsers other than Internet Explorer. This decision was made to reduce the dominance of Microsoft in the web browser market. As a result, Browser Choice website was launched in March 2010, as a part of the settlement of this dispute. The Browser Choice displayed 11 browsers other IE in a random order. The famous web browser choice screen, which was also known as the ‘web browser ballot box’, was displayed in Internet Explorer. The browser ballot box or web browser choice screen was displayed solely for the Windows users who had Internet Explorer as their default browser. This way, the users were made aware of other browsers and they could choose other browsers such as Chrome, Opera, FlashPeak, Comodo Dragon, Firefox, Safari, Avant Browser, Flock and Slim Browser.
Microsoft also posted additional information to help system administrators manage the display of the Browser Choice update screen in managed personal computing environments that are under a Volume Licensing program.
You can read more information about this update on KB2019411.
