Technology, Gadgets, IT, Games

As a result of a series of lawsuits claiming that Microsoft is unfairly forcing its browser on users, by making Internet Explorer installed by default on all Windows systems, they are unveiling the Browser Ballot in March.

This is a small webpage that will pop up for all Windows 7 users in March, allowing them to choose a default web browser from a list of 11. The first six browsers are arranged randomly (IE, Firefox, Chrome, Opera, Safari) then the next seven are also random (Flock, FlashPeak, K-Meleon, Avant, Maxthon, Sleipnir & GreenBrowser).

Not only does this update let all users freely select a browser, but it also un-pins IE from the SuperBar (the Windows 7 replacement for Quick Launch).

You can view the browser ballot directly at: www.browserchoice.eu

Do you think this browser ballot is enough to give users adequate choice? Do you think it is fair for Microsoft to have to do this? Will the ballot suppress the critics? Leave a comment to tell us your views.

At CES last night, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer announced the public beta for Windows 7.

MSDN, TechBeta and Technet subscribers can download the software now, whilst the rest of the public can get their hands on it on Friday 9th Jan (tomorrow) from microsoft.com/windows7

I’ve been using a pre-beta build of Windows 7 (build 6801)as my main PC for a month or so now. With the exception of a couple of drivers missing (which also don’t exist for 64-bit Vista), and the system bluescreening when I overclocked too much, there have been no problems. At all.

It has been a lot more stable than I’ve ever seen Vista, and appears to be just as fast as a ‘used’ installation of XP. Now imagine what the final build will be like!

It has loads of nice features, and seems to be much more logical than Vista. All the changes are necessary and concise, rather than anything feeling like they changed it because they “could”. The new taskbar (which you can enable in 6801) took a small amount of getting used to, and can be slightly confusing if you don’t see the orange glow, or you can’t tell if a programs running, or you accidentally bring up the menu instead of the list of windows. But overall it’s a good feature.

I suggest that anyone who ever tries out new operating systems gets the Windows 7 beta. Your faith in humanity (and Microsoft) might just be restored…

Check out our (small) Windows 7 Image Gallery, or google for images.

EDIT: You can now download the beta version of Windows 7 here – choice of 32 or 64 bit. The server seems to be busy (and refusing requests), and there are only 2.5 million downloads available, so you might not be lucky!

EDIT: It’s gone! “Due to very heavy traffic we’re seeing as a result of interest in the Windows 7 Beta, we are adding some additional infrastructure support to the Microsoft.com properties before we post the public beta. We want to ensure customers have the best possible experience when downloading the beta, and we will be updating this page once the beta goes live. Stay tuned! We are excited that you are excited!”

EDIT: “Thanks for your interest in the Windows 7 Beta. The volume has been phenomenal — we’re in the process of adding more servers to handle the demand. We’re sorry for the delay and we’ll re-post the Beta as soon as we can ensure a quality download experience.”

EDIT: The links are still down (Saturday 4pm GMT) but the downloads are actually still available on the Microsoft servers. Click to download 32 Bit or 64 Bit Windows 7.