Some of the smaller browser makers are petitioning for more prominence on the browser choice screen from Microsoft.

Six browser makers who want more prominence on the new Microsoft Windows browser choice pop-up screen have petitioned the European Commission.

The so-called second-tier browsers have petitioned regulators for increased prominence on the screen that gives Windows users in the EU a choice of browsers besides Microsoft’s Internet Explorer (IE).

The choice is being offered as part of the settlement of an anti-trust case brought against Microsoft by the European Commission.
From 1 March, any Windows user who has IE set as their default browser will see the choice screen after a change sent via Windows Update. The resulting choice screen gives a choice of 12 browsers, but the five that always show without scrolling are IE, Mozilla’s Firefox, Opera, Apple’s Safari and Google Chrome, which by Net Applications statistics are the most-used browsers today.

Six of the seven remaining – Avant, Flock, Maxthon, Slim, Sleipnir and Green (excluding K-meleon) –  do not expect to be shown on the first screen, but rather that some text or graphics could be added to indicate that there are choices beyond the first five.

A petition has been sent to Neelie Kroes, a European Commission Vice President, and other regulators who have been dealing with the browser-choice technology agreement as part of the antitrust case.

In the petition, the six software companies stated: “The final choice screen design leaves the vast majority of users unaware that there are more than five browsers to choose from. We are only requesting the simple addition of any text or design element that would indicate to an average user that there are choices ‘to the right of the visible screen’.”

Microsoft said that the browser choice screen was drawn up to be compliant with the deal agreed with the European Commission.

It is not yet clear what effect the browser choice will have on IE’s market share, yet early reports suggest the browser choice screen is leading to a rise in the number of people trying browsers other than Internet Explorer.