Ever mindful of the watchful eyes of the European Union, Microsoft has confirmed the rumours that it will not be including Internet Explorer in the latest version of its operating system Windows 7, that it ships in Europe. In fact, no browser will included in the operating system by default. This comes as a precautionary measure to last season’s hefty fine of 1.7 billion Euros which EU levied on the software giants. Microsoft was charged with unfairly using its operating system monopoly to squeeze into other software markets.
And apparently, the European Union is still not happy with the decision because Microsoft is not including any alternatives and is thus restricting consumers choice of browsers.
”Rather than more choice, Microsoft seems to have chosen to provide less,” it said in an official statement.
Computer dealers have the easy options to add the browser, ship another browser or mix it up with multiple browsers. ”To ensure that Microsoft is in compliance with European law, Microsoft will be releasing a separate version of Windows 7 for distribution in Europe that will not include Windows Internet Explorer,” the software maker said in an official memo to all major dealers.
All this chaos comes at very interesting times when IE has seen its share in the browser market falling down to less than 66% from a monopoly of 90% in 2004. This is surely going to add some fuel into the fires of the ensuing browser wars. One most interesting fact here is that last time in the legal battles, Microsoft argued that IE is an integral part of the operating system which can not be easily stripped down. And of course, I can’t imagine how Microsoft wants us to download an alternative browser without having any browser at all on the operating system! What do I use, a pen drive?
Very thoughtful, Microsoft. Maybe they really got inspired from Opera announcing a portable version of their browser. But selling an OS without a browser is liking a car without its wheels, internet browsers are without doubt the most important piece of softwares on any operating system! What it also signifies is Microsoft’s inability to accept that it cannot win the browser war by being the no.1 OS in the world. With its falling market share its clear that users now are demanding the best in each segment OS and browsers.
Microsoft is brushing away EUs blame game this time by saying that consumers are now free to choose whether or not install IE on the Windows 7 platform and they will also have the conscious option to choose to install web browsers. It’s not really sure how much this will cut into Microsoft’s business but it is obviously trying to ensure an error free penetration of its much anticipated new operating system into the market. This also means that computer makers like Dell, HP etc. can now choose to install Internet Explorer or one or more browsers.
Time for Mozilla Firefox, Chrome and Opera to jump into the whole chaos and cut some inside deals with the makers!
The European Commission said it will still weigh the entire situation and decide whether this would actually create genuine consumer choice or hamper it.
This is sign.. For things to come..
This is clear sign that in the future with customer demand for alternate browsers to a IE i.e. Firefox, Chrome and Opera will drive what gets bundled with Windows OS. Given that today a computer without internet is not really a computer its very possible that in the future an OS without browser wouldnt really be an OS and Microsoft needs to learn this and adapt quickly to consumer demands. Because if they dont then google is waiting in the wings with its own OS – Android and browser – Chrome.
