Mozilla, Opera upset over IE8 as default browser in Windows 7 RC

Mozilla and Opera may be jumping the gun a little here, but both companies have already spoken out about IE8 in Windows 7 RC. The reason being it is automatically selected as the default browser when upgrading your machine – even if you previously had another browser set as default.

Mitchell Baker, chairwoman of Mozilla said:

Our initial review suggests this is a blatant use of the Windows operating system to change the market dynamics of browser usage … What we’ve seen so far is a clear example of why and how Microsoft’s Windows monopoly damages competition in related products.

Hakon Wium Lie, chief technology officer at Opera added:

This issue highlights the problem with the browser market. It’s certainly something we would want to discuss

Microsoft is trying to calm their fears stating that the Windows 7 release candidate is just a test version of the operating system and not the final version. Presumably they intend to ensure users can set (or keep) their preferred browser as default in the final release of the OS.