Microsoft toes EC line: no IE in Windows 7 for Europe

Stephen Withers
Friday, 12 June 2009 06:20

IT Industry - Development

Windows 7 will be released in Europe without Internet Explorer. But you'll most likely find it on new computers anyway.

Microsoft has revealed that versions of Windows 7 sold in Europe will not include Internet Explorer. This appears to be a precautionary measure due to the ongoing case between the European Commission (EC) and Microsoft.

Microsoft clearly wants to reduce the risk of facing a new record fine.

"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, Microsoft vice president and deputy general counsel.

Each edition of Windows 7 that has been announced for sale in the US will be sold in Europe, the only differences being a "E" suffix to the name and the absence of Internet Explorer.

It seems extremely unlikely that manufacturers will ship new PCs with Windows 7 but without a browser. That would just irritate customers.

And if you were selling a Windows PC, wouldn't you include Internet Explorer even if you were inclined to give customers the choice of Firefox and Opera as well?

What might the other browser developers do, and what about upgrading to Windows 7 E? See page 2.