[Best of the Web -- Monday, 8 March 2010]

EU gives Explorer browser rivals a lift: Web browsers Firefox, Opera, Safari and Chrome have all enjoyed a lift after Microsoft agreed to a European Union demand that the company give Windows users a choice of which browser they’d like installed as default. A settlement with the EU requires Microsoft to provide customers in Europe with a menu of browser choices, rather than simply making the company’s own Internet Explorer the default. According to Mozilla, which develops Firefox, more than 50 000 people have download the alternative Web browser as a result of the “choice screen” presented to users. According to Opera developer, Norway’s Opera Software, downloads of its browser in some European markets has tripled since the EU agreement came into effect. [The New York Times]

Lights, camera, iPad: A few days after announcing that its tablet computer, the iPad, would be available in the US on 3 April, Apple has flighted its first television advertisement touting the upcoming device. The ad, which was shown on the ABC television network during the live Academy Awards ceremony on Sunday night, shows a man flipping through books, reading an online newspaper and browsing through photos. [The Guardian] [PC World]

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