Mozilla, the foundation that supports the development of the Firefox web browser, has accused Google, Microsoft and Apple of force users to use their default web browsers to reduce the alternatives to their minimum expression. The complaint has been made in a report whose title says it all: “5 Walled Gardens: Why Browsers Are Essential to the Internet and How Operating Systems Are Holding Them Back”.
Criticisms are reminiscent of the ‘browser wars’ of the 1990s and not because they are repeated they are less unfounded. It is true that Mozilla has made its own mistakes that have caused a large drop in the share of use of Firefox, but in the plane that concerns us (in our opinion) the Foundation is absolutely right and the regulators should adopt measures so that the user had the real ability to choose the alternatives you prefer in a group of applications such as web browsers and search engines that are essential.
And they are in it. Or they say they are. Mozilla’s report comes at a time when “self-preference” remains a hot topic in the technology regulation space. The UK competition watchdog has published a study highlighting “substantial concerns” about Google and Apple’s market dominance. The European or American regulator have complaints on the table for the same reason.
How operating systems are used
Mozilla explains what we all know. Developers of major operating systems take advantage of their privileged position to position their own applications. Microsoft does it on Windows, Google on Android and Apple on iOS in a strategy that Mozilla describes as “bad practices” if not monopolistic to “smother” competitors that do not produce operating systems for mass use.
Although a user with some computer knowledge should have no problem using the web browser of their choice, to the majority of consumers they find it “difficult” to change and use the default given the way Microsoft, Apple and Google design their operating systems, as part of the same operating system “to keep people locked in their garden”says Mozilla.
“The research we publish with this report paints a complex picture with many paradoxes: people say they know how to change their browser, but many never do”the Mozilla team wrote. “Many people think they can choose their browser, but have a preference for software that is pre-installed, set by default and difficult to change”.
The Foundation gives the example of Windows 11 and the changes made by Microsoft to make the browser selection for each type of extension and protocol. In practice, the vast majority of users are not bothered by its complexity and they continue to use the default browser, which is none other than Edge. Furthermore, there are other components of Windows 11 that link inexorably to Edge and cannot even be changed.
Another example is that of Apple, since until 2020 it did not offer the possibility of using a default browser other than Safari and even today it cannot be uninstalled, as is also the case with Edge or Chrome. Mozilla talks about a configuration hijacking, a technique “even more egregious than banning the adoption of rival software.”
Tech giants design their software to influence the choice and manufacturers of operating systems use these techniques to boost the use of their own browsers and search engines, “crushing any rival along the way”in the opinion of the Foundation.
Alternatives are much needed
“Browser and Engine Competence Needed to advance innovation, performance, privacy and security«they argue from Mozilla. «Effective competition requires multiple stakeholders to counter the power of a small number of giants and prevent them from dictating the future of the Internet for all of us.”.
“The consumers they should be in control of their online experiences and being able to choose what software they want to use, including something different than what the OS vendor offers”said a Mozilla spokesman. “The user You shouldn’t have to contend with operating systems that continually annoy, confuse, and reverse preferences in favor of their own software.”they emphasize
There’s a solution? Mozilla has it very difficult. Firefox, the only open source development among the big commercial web browsers, has lost a good chunk of market share and also lost influence once Microsoft decided to use Google’s development, Chromium, as the basis for Edge.
