An interesting reaction from Microsoft, but knowing who’s in charge, I’m not really surprised. All they had to do was offer the user a choice of browsers when the user hits the Internet button, which is what the EU was asking for. Some of Microsoft’s decisions show an alarming level of instability.

Oh, well.

I'm guessing it will also be a great excuse to charge us more.

Blame the EU for that. FF can get a meaningful presence without having a big court case. There will be two winners here. MS as people will still "get" IE and Chrome as Google will be able to pay the OEMs to put there version on the desktop.

Opera will just be a forgotten niche of a niche market browser but they will still winge and squinny on.

I notice that this move means you won't be able to "upgrade" your Vista installation etc, you will now have to perform a clean install.

This is all well and good, but anyone who thinks they could upgrade their OS, and finds that it goes well, but they don't have a browser, could be completely stuffed. They can't get on the net to seek help or research why they don't have IE, they'll need a separate visit to the shop if they weren't told about it when they purchased the OS.

OK, it will only be a few, but surely you're looking for 100% satisfaction in your customer base?

Should IE be bundles with the OS? Why ever not!? OS X comes with Safari, most Linux/UNIX systems come with something like Firefox...
OK, IE shouldn't be intertwined in Windows, but there isn't any reason to not ship it.

LU, surely clean installs are better anyway? Apart from Linux and Solaris, I've heard many problems occurring through upgrades in the Windows and in the Mac world.

Strangely FF has far higher market penetration in America than it does in Europe.

Then they will be sued by the browser makers who were not included in the choice.

Presumably this is just like the "n" versions of previous, better versions of Windows that didn't include WMP etc. Those "n" versions that nobody ever bought they were just made available to keep the EU happy. Chances are there will still be a complete, expensive, overpriced Vista service pack for normal consumers??

To be honest I never "upgrade" distros. either, I always do a clean install. Having said that, I've NEVER managed to perform a Windows upgrade, even on a clean, freshly installed system, it always fails or something gets totally FUBAR.

I've never managed to use automatic updates without it eventually borking the system for no particular reason

I'm guessing/hoping it is the same as the N versions.

I have IE and Firefox here. I use Firefox 99.9% of the time, but it is good having a backup...

This is one instance where I think the EU have been stupid. The original case against MS was needed, for the licensing and API lock-outs and lack of documentaiton.

But the WMP and IE cases are just dumb.

I agree. Just as many people will criticise MS for releasing an OS that doesn't do anything out of the box as they will for bundling their own apps. They've allowed people to uninstall IE in W7, surely that should be enough??

Lets face it, if you are going to pay £100+ OEM or nearly £300 retail for an OS, it should be able to browse the internet and play MP3's out of the box.

Reading more into it, it looks like there is only one version coming to the EU/UK and that is without IE...It comes with naff all as it is. Seems I was wrong...W7 can stoop lower...

By W8 you'll have to compile it yourself!

Any chance I could sneak a US version past HMRC?