Microsoft has announced Thursday that they intend to sell version of Windows 7 without the bundled Internet Explorer browser. The Idea is that PC manufacturers would then be free to bundle whatever browser they like with Windows.
The European Unions however is absolutely not impressed by Microsoft's move. It is clear that what the EU wanted was to force Microsoft to include alternative browsers with Windows 7 rather than removing Internet Explorer, and with good reasons. The EU competition commission has certainly not forgotten the Windows N debacle, when they managed to force Microsoft to sell a version of Windows without a media player only to see all OEMs ship the versions with the media player included.
The big problem is that from an economic point of view, a monopoly is good for sellers and bad for buyers, and here the OEMs are sellers. There are some advantage for the computer manufacturers to limit the versions of Windows they ship: less support cost, easier inventory management, better relations with microsoft etc... so to offset these costs a competitor to Microsoft would actually have to pay the computer manufacture to include an alternative browser or media player, something unlikely to happen unless Google really decides to push Chrome. Another reason that could push OEM to include alternative browsers would be consumer demand, but that is very unlikely to happen as most of the consumer looking for alternatives are moving to systems with Linux or OSX.
What this means is that selling a version of Windows 7 without Internet Explorer do not level the playing field at all: it would still be more difficult for alternative browsers and media players to be preinstalled on computers. If other browsers are included by default then the advantage of Microsoft is negated as this would give other browsers the exact same advantage: it would not be easier for computer manufacturers to sell a computer loaded with IE. That is why the better option is to force Microsoft to include other browsers in Windows 7 rather than removing Internet Explorer.
At least it looks like the EU is not ready to let itself be pushed around by Microsoft. Let's hope for the best.
Photo CC by Robert Scoble
5 Responses to "MS to ship Windows 7 without IE, The EU is unimpressed":
They should Force OEM's to include alternative browsers! MS doesn't want to and OEM's can make it a feature: "look we sell Windows with Firefox!".
Windows with Firefox would sell, thrust me, it really would work out great for everybody but MS.
A lot of people already use Firefox and are happier with it than IE, for them, buying windows without IE and with an OEM provided browser that they know like Firefox would be a time-saver.
Firefox is already used a lot so people won't complain and be happy.
I think they should also be forced to bundle a Mac and a Linux OS with every machine. It's obvious that people only buy windows because it's forced on them. This would level the playing field for Macs and Linux. Also, they should be forced not to sell Windows so that the other companies get a chance. Nor should they be allowed to sell any office software, but instead should be forced to supply WordPerfect for free. Only when we disallow Microsoft from selling anything and instead supplying all their competitors software for free will the playing field be leveled. Oh - and also, they should have to pay you to use their competitors software.
@ Anonymous
"It's obvious that people only buy windows because it's forced on them."
For a lot of people this is unfortunately true.
agreed. I recently bought an Asus eeepc, and nowdays they all come with windows. I used windows for about 30 seconds just to see if the machine worked and then immediately wiped the hard drive and installed Ubuntu.
But, unfortunately, the ubiquitous Windows + hardware bundling will probably not end anytime soon.
Why hasn't this issue died? Why is the EU so worried about browsers? It is such a non-issue. In the 90s Netscape hopes to control market share by through controlling software. That market doesn't exist anymore. Cloud computing and software as service are the current battle grounds. This is such a waste of time and effort. Screw the Eurpeans if they don't want to join this millenium.
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