Instead, Microsoft has agreed to give customers a choice of up to 11 competitive browsers, including Firefox, Chrome, Safari and Opera. OEMs will also be able to choose other browsers to install on their Windows PCs before shipping.
European consumers who already have Windows operating systems will be sent a software update by mid-March that will allow them to easily switch browsers. Going forward until 2015, new Windows buyers will be presented with the choice automatically. Since PC owners ostensibly have access to IE alternatives already anyway, all Microsoft is being forced to do is essentially to remind them of their options. It seems like a fair enough system, which makes it even more surprising that it took billions of dollars of fines to get here. [NY Times]
Martin Olminkhof
Thursday, December 17, 2009 at 10:36 AMI have IE disabled (via “Programs and Features”) in W7
I like this as it stops apps from automatically opening IE or opening it accidentally
Kashi Samaraweera
Thursday, December 17, 2009 at 4:25 PMPerhaps finally I can download Opera , FF, Chrome or Safari without that pesky Windows preventing me … oh wait, I can already do that.
Well maybe I’ll buy my next PC from a EU country, and pay their VAT; then I’ll buy my Windows 7 from a different EU country, and pay their VAT… that way the EU has another excuse to make money off Microsoft that only makes sense to themselves – after all, isn’t that what this whole case is about?