Following a series of legal wranglings in recent years, Microsoft has unveiled a finalised design of the browser ballot first proposed to the European Commission back in July 2009.
Microsoft's browser ballot, created with the help of "extensive discussions with the Commission", is a response to anti-competitive complaints from third-party browser providers and will allow European users of Windows PCs to select a browser of their choice - as opposed to being provided with Microsoft's Internet Explorer as standard.
Now described as the "web browser choice screen", it will begin to roll-out to a limited number of consumers early next week, followed by a full-scale European release on March 1st.
Delivered to consumers via Windows Update, the web browser choice screen will be displayed to those who have Internet Explorer set as their default browser, and will first provide an explanatory window that describes what a browser is, and what choice needs to be made.
For users of Microsoft's Windows 7 operating system, the browser choice screen will automatically unpin Internet Explorer 8 from the Windows Taskbar, following which users will then be required to select their browser of choice.
The second window - "select your web browser" - will initially show five random browsers to choose from, with a further seven available by scrolling to the right.
Microsoft's decision to display the browsers in a random order came following complaints from from rivals Opera, Mozilla and Google.
The screen provides brief details on each individual browser, along links that allow the user to find out further information, or to install their desired selection. Microsoft adds that the links, logos and associated text are provided by each respective browser provider.
