Microsoft Has Spoken: No IE with Windows 7 in Europe
Antitrust regulators at the European Commission tried to persuade Microsoft to open Windows to other browsers – a request that was not received very well by Microsoft and that even triggered some negative responses from computer manufacturers and consumers.
No one in its right mind could expect any software manufacturer to allow competitor browsers bundled with its programs. Apparently the European Commission members live under the impression that Microsoft will bow at their command and include in Windows 7 software that could cause Microsoft drastic financial loss. Consider this, and consider branding rationale, and you have the whole picture.
Microsoft’s response however is even more puzzling: the company decided to send Windows 7 in Europe without any browser at all. This means that the European buyers will have to download and install a web browser themselves. The question is: how do you download anything without a web browser to access the web? Sure thing, the European Commission, the very instrument that started this mess, reacted promptly:
“In terms of potential remedies, if the Commission were to find that Microsoft had committed an abuse, the Commission has suggested that consumers should be offered a choice of browser not that Windows should be supplied without a browser at all.”
As I said in a previous article: Internet Explorer is the last of any web savvy user’s concern. As an European website owner and web user, based on what I see when I look at my Google Analytics I can also say that if anyone should worry about anything, that’s Microsoft, because Firefox holds 49.20% of the stats, followed by Safari with 13.40% . I believe that for other webmasters in Europe the stats results are pretty similar. In the image below (courtesy W3Schools) you will see that even if we consider all Internet Explorer versions combined, Firefox is still the most popular browser.
So my question is: are these people (EU) really thinking about the consumers, or are they just trying to milk the cash cow Microsoft under false pretexts?
About the Author
Liliana Dumitru-Steffens is public relations consultant for Pamil Visions PR. She writes for Everything PR since January 2009. Previously she worked for My-tronic GmbH and Unilever Romania. Email Liliana at lsteffens [at] pamil-visions [dot] net.
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Comment by Matt Keegan on 12 June 2009:
This is an odd decision by Microsoft following the EU decision. How the heck people download a browser under this arrangement is beyond me.
As for IE, my stats offer similar results — Firefox now dominates with enough of the other browsers making head way. Looks like IE is getting slapped down by consumers too!
Comment by Liliana Dumitru-Steffens on 12 June 2009:
The point is that Microsoft is not even following the EU decision: they are trying to prove the EU wrong (stressfully – your observation that downloading a browser without another browser to find web resources is my main concern too). Microsoft and the EU are both totally disregarding the users.
Comment by Costin on 12 June 2009:
“How the heck people download a browser under this arrangement is beyond me.”
* by using the Windows Updates option
I’m sure Windows 7 will notify the end user to download and install the IE7/8 after installation(MS is not stupid)
As for EU trying to persuade MS to include an other browser,roflmao! What are they thinking? Windows is not Linux!
IMO, EU deserved this slap.
Comment by Liliana Dumitru-Steffens on 12 June 2009:
Costin, so pleased to see a Romanian on board!
Honestly, I do not even know how to use the W update solution. You are talking Chinese for me! Luckily my husband is an IT genius, so I am saved. But what about other users? I think MS deserves a slap for this too!
Comment by Costin on 12 June 2009:
If this is really going to happen and if this is the final answer from MS, then I don’t think MS deserves this slap. Why? Well, think about the millions of windows users that will contact the nearest MS CallCenter or paying someone to install them a web browser
MS thinks ahead!
PS
which IMO, this would happen anyway
Or about the millions of windows users that will NOT use Windows 7 for many years to come
PS 2
Keep it up!
It’s a pleasure to ‘be’ here. You guys have a lot of great posts and I read them all
Comment by Liliana Dumitru-Steffens on 12 June 2009:
Ha! Why didn’t I think of that? You are so right! Microsoft should thank EU for the prank. LMAO!
Pingback by Apple Focused on Quality, Microsoft Focused on Feeding America on 13 June 2009:
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Comment by Ladislav Kocbach on 24 June 2009:
I have explained this some other place on your pages: you do not need a browser to download files. There is a tiny program called “ftp” for “file transfer protocol”. This exists everywhere, on all operating systems today. A tiny command requesting the installers for several of the most relevant browsers could be written, possibly with a little menu for selecting one of them, could be referred to by a little icon on the desktop, for example. This little script (a bat-file would do) would place the desired installers on the desktop.
This is in principle. In fact, the distributors of the PC usually put on Adobe Acrobat and Adobe Flash on the machines anyway, so they could just bundle a couple of the browser installers. There are no technical difficulties at all. I also mentioned the Portable Apps, in particular Firefox Portable at portableapps.com
But you are right in that the reaction of Microsoft is “puzzling”, though also other words could have been used.
But to all the people writing on this page: The browser really is not a part of the operating system. The ftp program I mentioned, might be considered a part of operating system, it would be in the vastly superior Unix world. And you can easily download files without a browser. The superiority of the Unix systems is reflected by the fact that most of computing which really matters is done on Unix (most often today in its Linux incarnation).
The fact that you people here apparently do not know about the ftp’s existence simply demonstrates wher the Microsoft dominance has brought us: to intentional and programed digital ignorance.
Just perhaps one more comment: the whole issue of user choice of browser is not only about choice. It is also about Microsoft continuously inventing new tools to punish non-windows users and the open source software users, many of them in the governmental area.
There is computer science and Unix culture on one side and Microsoft with its practices on the other side.