Microsoft’s Windows 7 ditches IE for EU launch

Posted by Ben

June 12, 2009

If you remember a few weeks ago we wrote about Firefox’s protestations at Internet Explorer continuing to come bundled with Windows 7 and the ongoing anti-trust investigation looking into whether the practice is uncompetitive. ie8

Well the results aren’t yet in, but according to a statement over at the Telegraph, Microsoft has decided to remove Internet Explorer from Windows 7 for it’s European launch.

“Given the pending legal proceeding, we’ve decided that instead of including Internet Explorer in Windows 7 in Europe, we will offer it separately and on an easy-to-install basis to both computer manufacturers and users”, said Dave Heiner, deputy general counsel for Microsoft.

Microsoft maintains that its customers will be free to install IE or any browser of their choosing, it also stressed that its customers have always had the choice of installing alternate browsers – which is a somewhat moot point given that the massive majority of those users would be using IE by default, even to find a new browser.

Whilst you’d imagine that the EU regulators and Microsoft rivals would be pleased to hear this news, it seems that Redmond can’t please anybody; with the regulators and an Opera spokesperson bemoaning that removal of the browser is actually providing the customer with less choice, and goes little way to restoring the notion of competition in the browser market share wars.

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