In light of ongoing antitrust proceedings in the EU, Microsoft has stated that it will ship Windows 7 without Internet Explorer in order to comply with previous antitrust rulings.
The EU mandated in February that Microsoft must present users with a choice between IE8 or other third-party browsers. Commissioners noted that bundling IE8 with Redmond’s new operating system violated competition law. Competition Minister Jonathon Todd said that it was an issue of market fairness.
“The Commission would intend to impose remedies that enabled users and manufacturers to make an unbiased choice between Internet Explorer and competing third party web browsers,” he said.
While many pundits concluded that Microsoft would develop a mechanism to facilitate this choice, the firm has instead decided to strip IE8 from so-called E editions of Windows 7 destined for Europe. Microsoft VP and Deputy General Counsel David Heiner intimated that this move was the path of least resistance.
“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,” he said. “This means that computer manufacturers and users will be free to install Internet Explorer on Windows 7, or not, as they prefer. Of course, they will also be free, as they are today, to install other Web browsers.”
Yet the bundling crisis plaguing Microsoft may not be over as customers of Windows 7 box SKUs have no obvious way to download porn on a fresh installation. Analysts believe that this may trigger a backlash of dissent aimed at anyone except Jergens.
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