Office 2010 ballot screen for default file format, OOXML or ODF

February 22nd, 2010 admin

[From Neowin.net - Revealed: Office 2010 ballot screen for default file format, OOXML or ODF]

Similar to the browser ballot, Microsoft is now considering a ballot to select the default file format. Microsoft has been accused of using its control of Microsoft Office to push its OOXML file formats. This appears to be an effort to provide a more balanced choice for users.

Microsoft announced the ballot screen prompt plans for Office 2010 in August 2009. The software giant issued a “Public Undertaking” which documented the changes Microsoft agreed to make to Office 2010. “Beginning with the release of Office 14 (Office 2010), end users that purchase Microsoft’s Primary PC Productivity Applications in the EEA in both the OEM and retail channel will be prompted in an unbiased way to select default file format (from options that include ODF) for those applications upon the first boot of any one of them,” read part of the statement in August 2009. The beta versions of Office 2010 did not include the ballot screen but recent Release Candidate builds have introduced the prompt.

. . .

In an email to Neowin, Marino Marcich, executive director of the ODF Alliance said he believed the ballot screen falls short in several areas. Comparing it to the browser ballot screen for Windows 7, Marcich said: “Microsoft offered the EU a ballot screen that gave the browser choices in randomized order, with an unbiased message, including a link for further information provided by the vendor. But the file format ballot screen gives OOXML the first position. It gives a biased description of ODF, listing the liabilities of Microsoft’s ODF implementation while failing to state any of ODF’s advantages.”

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Google Upgrades Security on Gmail

January 14th, 2010 admin

[From Google Upgrades Security on Gmail - Gadgetwise Blog - NYTimes.com]

Google is changing the default for its web mail service, placing security above performance.

In a blog post Tuesday night, Google said it would begin using Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure, or HTTPS, technology to encrypt all traffic carried on its free Web-based e-mail service. HTTPS is a popular Internet protocol that combines the standard HTTP Web protocol with a layer of encryption based on the SSL/TLS protocol. It is commonly used by online banking services and shopping sites to protect secret customer data from interception by Web eavesdroppers.

Gmail has always used HTTPS to encrypt login pages, and thereby defend passwords, but encryption of e-mail traffic itself has been an option that users had to select. Now, Google will move all users to HTTPS by default, arguing that the security benefits of that outweigh the slight hit to the speed of e-mail delivery that the technology imposes. The performance impediment has been steadily diminishing as an issue because computing power, the speed of individual connections and overall Internet bandwidth have all expanded.

. . .

The move to HTTPS for Gmail was praised by some privacy advocates, who expressed hope that other popular Web-based email services, like Yahoo Mail and Hotmail from Microsoft, would soon follow suit. Making HTTPS use the default for all users is important because few people take the trouble to actively turn on security features, said Jeremiah Grossman, the chief technology officer of WhiteHat Security, a Web security firm. “It’s free security. Whenever that happens, we’ll take it.”

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On Facebook, Only the Rich Have Privacy

December 21st, 2009 admin

[From multicast » Blog Archive » On Facebook, Only the Rich Have Privacy]

My co-author, Christian Sandvig, blogs on the changes in the privacy settings for Facebook. Here are his conclusions:

Facebook gets to have the appearance of consultation (after all, you “agreed” by clicking through the above screen) even though the result overall is the reduction of privacy. As is clear in the table of this dotrights.org analysis of the Facebook privacy transition, the Facebook move is all about changing the defaults. They presumably did so because more data accessibility means more visibility and value for their service.

The larger point is that facilitating “choice” is bankrupt as a societal strategy for managing difficult problems (like privacy) related to new technologies. More than anything, it’s a strategy to circumvent difficult public deliberation (in this case, about privacy) that we as a polity ought to have. Even in the case of decisions with real consequences, if individual choice is used, as we put it: “the authority of software trumps that of advice” (p. 43)… Facebook’s pre-selected default options are going to be the societal policy in this area. And that means that effective regulation requires the scrutiny of defaults. Pushing individual choice offers us false freedom and this is not good enough.

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Microsoft’s browser ballot

October 20th, 2009 admin

[From EU, Microsoft agree on browser ballot, testing to start soon - Ars Technica]

A great example of the arguments over defaults is for the default browser. To remove the advantages of the default, Microsoft is creating a ballot for users to choose a browser. The next fight is over who gets listed first.

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Posted in Web Browsers | No Comments »

The Default Search Engine

June 2nd, 2008 admin

The default search engine for web browsers is still very important and worth a lot of moneyBack in the day, when AOL took over Netscape, there was talk about how the default settings in Netscape pushed considerable traffic to Netcenter. AOL bought Netscape for those eyeballs.Mozilla’s Firefox has earned considerable revenue with its default search engine for Google. Mozilla earned $53 million in 2005 and $67 million in 2006. (Google also has a deal with Dell to install its search toolbar).This week Microsoft announced an agreement with HP to install copies of Internet Explorer with an extra Live Search toolbar. No word on the financial details.According to the AP story, “Angus Norton, a senior director in Microsoft’s Live Search group, said about 40 percent of Web surfers use whatever search engine is set as the default on their PC.” I personally find this hard to believe. This statistic is saying most people switch their default search engine. Maybe its my mac bias, but I really don’t see lots of people switching the default search engines.

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Fixing Apple’s Software Update

April 25th, 2008 admin

From AppleInsiderFollowing complaints about Apple’s Software Update, see here, Apple redesigned it. The new version separates updates to applications from new products. There are toggles for each software product, so one can ignore selected updates, such as Safari. There is also another option for turning off automatic software defaults. Here are screenshots from AppleInsider.I think this is a much need improvement for clarifying exactly what can and is going to be updated.200804251955.jpg200804251955.jpg

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Exploiting Defaults: The Case of Apple’s Software Update

April 15th, 2008 admin

People often defer to defaults. Developers can take advantage of this behavior. In March 2008, Apple’s Software Update tool included a default for installing Safari.A succinct explanation of the issues can be found by John Lily, the CEO of Mozilla

The problem here is that it lists Safari for getting an update — and has the “Install” box checked by default — even if you haven’t ever installed Safari on your PC.

 

That’s a problem because of the dynamic I described above — by and large, all software makers are trying to get users to trust us on updates, and so the likely behavior here is for users to just click “Install 2 items,” which means that they’ve now installed a completely new piece of software, quite possibly completely unintentionally. Apple has made it incredibly easy — the default, even — for users to install ride along software that they didn’t ask for, and maybe didn’t want. This is wrong, and borders on malware distribution practices.

 

It’s wrong because it undermines the trust that we’re all trying to build with users. Because it means that an update isn’t just an update, but is maybe something more. Because it ultimately undermines the safety of users on the web by eroding that relationship. It’s a bad practice and should stop.

John Gruber points out that this controversy could have been avoided if the checkbox for Safari were off by default.200804151613.jpgPhoto from CNET

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How Defaults Affect a Variety of Issues (with Limewire Example)

March 13th, 2008 admin

In an article in the Notre Dame Law Review, we have a section on how defaults affect a variety of issues. This post reprints this section with screenshots.The first default setting in Limewire sets the upload bandwidth default to 100%. This setting promotes using all of the computer’s available bandwidth for file sharing.200803132055.jpgAnother default setting sets the program to automatically connect to the network when the application starts up. This ensures that file sharing starts immediately.200803132109.jpgA third default setting treats users with fast computers and Internet connections as an “ultrapeer.” An “ultrapeer” helps other users download faster, but demands a greater load on the user’s computer.200803132110.jpgAll three of these default settings are used to promote file sharing. However, these are not the only defaults in Limewire. Limewire uses default settings for filtering search results by specific words, adult content, or file types. This setting affects free speech, essentially censoring certain Websites from its users.200803132111.jpgOther default settings define the community of file sharers. Limewire has a default setting to share files only with people who are sharing files. Users can set the minimum number of files an uploader has to share. This feature defines the community’s boundaries. It can exclude “freeloaders” or people sharing only a few files. Limewire sets the default to one file and, thus, effectively allows everyone (including “free-loaders”) to share files. 200803132112.jpgFinally, there is a default affecting social communication determining whether the chat feature is on or off.200803132112.jpgLimewire’s use of defaults demonstrates how defaults can affect a wide variety of issues. As a matter of policy, defaults are good for a number of reasons. First, defaults provide users with agency. Users have a choice in the matter: They can go with the default option or choose another setting. Second, a default setting guides the user by providing a recommendation. However, there may be situations where users do not need or should not have options. We discuss these situations in more detail later, but the key point is sometimes we do not want to give a user choices.

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Defaults in Wi-Fi Access Points

March 7th, 2008 admin

Recently, Christian and I published an article on the role of defaults in wireless access points (APs) (a free draft is also available). The paper examines defaults for encryption, ssid, and channel number. In this post, I want to highlight a key finding on the the role of the default for encryption.For consumer APs, such as Linksys, we found an encryption usage of 23% overall. In contrast, for 2Wire, we found an encryption usage of 96%. As we point out in the paper, the explanation for this difference is largely due to the default setting.Here are the relevant screenshots:200803072112.jpg200803072111.jpgIf the goal is to encourage the use of encryption to secure APs, then the default should be set to enable encryption. Another approach, which is less powerful (but cheaper from the vendor’s perspective) is to use labels and improve configuration software to encourage the use of encryption. California followed this approach with the “Wi Fi User Protection Act”, which had the support of the wireless industry. The law states that:

manufacturers of any device that “includes an integrated and enabled wireless access point… for use in small office, home office, or residential settings… [must] include a warning advising the consumer how to protect his or her wireless network connection, a warning sticker, or provide other protection that, among other things, requires affirmative action by the consumer prior to use of the device.” [Wi Fi Planet]

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IE 8′s Default Settings Will Comply With Web Standards

March 6th, 2008 admin

[From Microsoft Says IE 8's Default Settings Will Comply With Web Standards -- Microsoft]The next version of Internet Explorer (IE) will comply with web standards by default. This is a shift, because IE 8′s initial setting was an IE 7 compatibility mode. Web sites that wish to use IE 7 compatible mode will now have to insert a meta tag. (More technical details here)This change in default setting is of enormous importance to web designers, because it can reduce the need to develop an IE specific web design. The new default will encourage the use of web sites based on open standards versus an IE compatibility mode. Microsoft noted that this move should remove any potential legal or regulatory issues.Here is Microsoft’s explanation in a press release.

“Our initial plan had been to use IE7-compatible behavior as the default setting for IE8, to minimize potential impact on the world’s existing Web sites. We have now decided to make our most current standards-based mode the default in IE8.“This is obviously a complex issue, with important considerations on both sides,” Ozzie said. “On one hand, there are literally billions of Web pages designed to render on previous browser versions, including many sites that are no longer actively managed. On the other hand, there is a concrete benefit to Web designers if all vendors give priority to interoperability around commonly accepted standards as they evolve. After weighing these very legitimate concerns, we have decided to give top priority to support for these new Web standards.

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