Who decides what browsers are on the ballot?
If the commission buys into Microsoft’s concept, the ballot will list the top five (or 10) browsers as determined by EU usage share. “The Ballot Screen will be populated with the most widely-used web browsers that run on Windows with a usage share of equal to or more than 0.5% in the EEA as measured semi-annually by a source commonly agreed between Microsoft and the European Commission,” the proposal reads. The “source commonly agreed upon” hasn’t been selected — that’s up for discussion between Microsoft and the commission — but there are a limited number of firms that track browser metrics. Among them: U.S.-based Net Applications, which hasn’t published its June data yet because of a glitch in the count, and Ireland’s StatCounter.
