Posted in: Web Browsers, Windows

Microsoft is no longer required to show the Browser Choice screen on Windows in the EU

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Believe it or not, five years have passed since the European Commission forced Microsoft to add the Browser Choice screen to the versions of Windows it sold in the EU. And incidentally, this means that the requirement has in fact expired.

As of now, Microsoft no longer falls under the obligation to show people in the EU the Browser Choice screen, so it’s stopped doing so. The dedicated website for the feature is gone too.

This legal requirement came at a time when Microsoft’s Internet Explorer dominated the browser market with around 70% market share, thanks in no small part to the fact that it came bundled with Windows. Hence, not many average consumers even knew there were alternative browsers available – for many, Internet Explorer became synonymous with accessing the Internet.

It’s unclear how effective the Browser Choice screen was, but at least it exposed IE’s main competitors to people installing or using Windows for the first time, so presumably it may have had something to do with the dip in market share that Microsoft’s Web browser has seen in past years. Of course, other browsers became better and better in the meantime, which can also explain their rise.

IE now only accounts for around 20 to 25% of the market, while Google Chrome leads with 50%, and Mozilla’s Firefox has about 20% market share.

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