arstechnica.com — Microsoft has responded to the EU's antitrust investigation into its bundling of its browser with Windows by deciding to ship Windows 7 in Europe without Internet Explorer 8 installed. Say hello to the spiritual successor of Windows XP N: Windows 7 E.
Jun 11, 2009 View in Crawl 4
darkshroudJun 12, 2009
Why should they have to spend the time & money to support some ones else's products?
daniel1980Jun 12, 2009
Actually it's not as simple as that. If you have to give a choice of browsers, which ones go on the list? Essentially you would have to open it up to every browser in order to be fair, including lots of little ones that nobody knows about and that may well have serious security issues. And the consumer will be faced with a wall of choices for browsers that they simply don't recognise. Also, MS would potentially need to support the browsers as they were delivered as a part of the OS.You can't just say "Offer IE, Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Opera" and leave it at that. So who decides which browsers get on the list?
grumpyrainJun 12, 2009
Not to excuse some of the despicable behaviour Microsoft engaged in, you are sadly mistaken if you think that Netscape 6 was killed by that alone. I remember having it installed on reasonably new machines and waiting 20+ seconds for it to open, compared to IE5 and NS4, both of which were around 5 seconds to open.
peters1023Jun 13, 2009
@Zap2You sir fail then. Not even close to impossible.
allengeerJun 13, 2009
Yea, that was the contract. You know one side agrees to do one thing. The other side agrees to do another. Say I have a bunch of computers that I want a bulk discount for the Operating System software. Say I also want that operating system, because the marketing and brandname surrounding it makes my hardware sell 100s of times more units. And the Operating System says to you, well I'll give you this discount, as long as you agree to keeping us as your software provider. I agree, win win. And even today, win win. As an OEM, I still sign this contract today, because in the end, Microsoft's product on my hardware makes my hardware more profitable.
allengeerJun 13, 2009
Yea, if I am Microsoft I am thinking that the harm done to my company by you reaching for an install disc and clicking a button or two is a lot less than the harm done by me basically inviting your to survey my competitor and their partner's products.
aceysJun 14, 2009
Yeah this will work. I did this on a friends install of XP. Told him the second he opens IE, his computer would take a 5% performance hit =) Was easier than using a USB thumbdrive.
gibbJun 14, 2009
Here in the UK PC World must be rubbing their hands together."The Tech Guys will install a browser of your choice for just £30"
richmondphotogJun 14, 2009
@Elranzer The monopoly on what? They make the hardware too. Its like saying Ford had the monopoly on the model T. MS has agreements where the computer makers have to pay them, regardless if the computer has Windows installed. Thats why a windows machine is cheaper than a linux machine. And guess what, Vista sucks. But how do you get it adopted? Force computer manufacturers to install it on all new machines. Thats called monopoly, and thats called abusing it.
littledictatorJun 18, 2009
I am indeed questioning that! I know that it would baffle my dad, who does use computers but couldn't be called very savvy about them unfortunately! My dad is 70 btw, so forgive him for his lack of tech knowledge (maybe that's all my fault? :-p)