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EU get its wish: Microsoft to ship Internet Explorer-free Windows 7
Holy about faces, Batman!Credit yet another Microsoft-related leak with some truly interesting Windows 7 news. The EU is going to get their wish, and Microsoft will make special OEM and retail versions of Windows 7 available that are totally Internet Explorer free.
Here's the meaty part of the memo:
"Microsoft will offer IE8 separately and free of charge and will make it easy and convenient for PC manufacturers to preinstall IE 8 on Windows 7 machines in Europe if they so choose. PC manufacturers may choose to install an alternative browser instead of IE 8, and has always been the case, they may install multiple browsers if they wish."
Which means we probably haven't heard the last of the shouting just yet. It'll just be about unfairly leaning on manufacturers who decide to include Internet Explorer - even though they might choose to do so of their own free will. After all, a big portion of the general computer-purchasing public still doesn't know what the heck a Firefox is.
[via CNet]
Comments
31
Subscribe to commentsKarlWJun 11th 2009 10:20PM
No, that's completely the wrong interpretation of this. It's the kind of quick-fire view that ignores the point of view of Microsoft's competitors and comes to the wrong decision.
The reason Microsoft are always in trouble with the EU is because they have a monopoly on desktop OSes. That's fine, that's how the OS market is. However, technology development in another market (the browser market) would grind to a halt if Microsoft has no competition in that market (as it did after IE6). The goal of these rulings is to stop the desktop OS market warping the browser market.
The EU hasn't been after an IE-free version of Windows per se, it's been after less proprietary integration between Windows and IE. That means either less integration, or opening the integration to 3rd parties, and making IE easier to replace (otherwise the market is warped in favour of IE).
If you know anything about the history of the internet and IE, you'd know how important this is. Microsoft broke standards to try and make the internet a Windows-only tool, and the lack of competition in the browser space completely killed innovation for half a decade before Firefox spectacularly managed to gain a foot-hold. Now the market is competitive again, and it's in part thanks to rulings like these that help competition.
kingabraham3Jun 11th 2009 10:24PM
just to put a philosophical twist to it:
the Eu's demands fail the Universalizability Test of their very own German Immanuel Kant. If ALL OSs shipped without a browser, then there would be no way for anyone to get a browser in the first place, thus it is "unethical".
KarlWJun 12th 2009 9:04AM
No, because Microsoft has the desktop OS monopoly. Hence they must follow antitrust law.
Immanuel Kant is not a lawmaker in Europe.
RUGRLNJun 12th 2009 1:38AM
This is completely pathetic. How come then Windows Media Player comes free, when you got Real, iTunes, Winamp...and then Wordpad, there's OpenOffice...and then Paint when there's Paint.net, Gimp and so on..
It's pathetic..
Jash SayaniJun 12th 2009 3:58AM
That's LAME EU !
What's next: "Apple, stop pre-installing Safari in SnowLeopard!!" ??
CalaganJun 12th 2009 4:19AM
@Normal_Person:
You're obviously the type of person who gets a PC with Windows pre-installed by the OEM. What the article implies is that the OEM will be able to offer you a Windows 7 PC without IE, but with another browser pre-installed instead. If, unlike your pseudonym imply, you're a tech-savy person able to install Windows on your own, then you're probably smart enough to get a Firefox (or Chrome, or Safari, or Opera...) installer on a thumbrive and install it this way. The übergeeks among us could even use good old built-in command line FTP to get their favourite browser.
Mc.FishieJun 12th 2009 4:59AM
It will still BSOD anyway... who cares
Mc.FishieJun 12th 2009 4:59AM
But yer good point, how will u download something then?
TarasJun 12th 2009 9:17PM
Folks, MS does not care what driving outfit you wear, as long as you buy and drive MS car. MS is, of course, protective and possessive about IE, which is understanable, but if you go to MS TechNet Forum and ask how to install FF on Windows 7, you will get all the help you need. If you have problem with IE 8 in Windows 7, one of the tech will ask you if you tried installing FF instead of IE 8. And MS TechNet Forum is not just any forum, it is THE MS Forum.
SilverWaveJun 14th 2009 3:36PM
I know that Lee Mathews is just trolling but cant let this one go :)
Yeah like the EU are going to let the guilty party decide the sentence!
Firefox and Safari and Chrome are going to be on the Install Disk of Window7 - Hah Balmer & Bill are going to LOVE that... heh.
Oh Oh cherry on top is to address the previous tying - the same offer to all previous users of XP & Vista in the EU via Windows Update...
Oh Oh Oh! a *HUGE* fine as well /tears of laughter
SilverWaveJun 14th 2009 3:20PM
I know that Lee Mathews is just trolling but cant let this one go :)
Yeah like the EU are going to let the guilty party decide the sentence!
Firefox and Safari and Chrome are going to be on the Install Disk of Window7 - Hah Balmer & Bill are going to LOVE that... heh.
Oh Oh cherry on top is to address the previous tying - the same offer to all previous users of XP & Vista in the EU via Windows Update...
Oh Oh Oh! a *HUGE* fine as well /tears of laughter