Microsoft agrees to randomise browser choices

Microsoft will randomise the choice of browsers offered when installing Windows

Microsoft has reportedly introduced a plan to shuffle browser ballot choices as part of its ongoing legal negotiations with the European Union (EU).

Reports from Bloomberg and The New York Times cited internal sources in reporting that the company will randomise the choice of browsers offered when installing an operating system.

Such a system would put all of the suggested browser choices on an equal footing, and prevent Microsoft from being accused of favouring its own browser when offering customers the choice of what they use to surf the web.

The ordering issue had been a point of contention with critics of Microsoft's deal with the EU. Some had argued that by setting up the order to put Internet Explorer (IE) first on the list, or by burying competitors at the bottom of the order, Microsoft could continue to manipulate the market.

Microsoft has been working with the EU to finalise a deal and put a formal end to its anti-trust wrangling in Europe over the inclusion of IE with Windows.

Microsoft has been accused since the mid-1990s of illegally undermining its competitors in the browser market by bundling IE as a free component within Windows. The issue was central to the landmark anti-trust decision against Microsoft.