At the planned introduction on October 22nd 2009. Windows 7 will be delivered without the system-integrated web browser Internet Explorer (‘Internet Exploder’ to some). Actually – and so the story goes on June 13, 2009 – no web browser at all will be delivered with this new operating system.
Thus Microsoft meets the demands of the European Union, and especially Euro commissioner Kroes. She has been investigating Microsoft for some time now, and accuses the company of abusing its dominant position in the market. The stripped version of Window 7 will be a Europe-only operating system. This decision by Microsoft will certainly please the vast amount of sceptic Windows-users. After all, they have been complaining for years about Internet Explorer, which because of its integration with the operating system, was able to keep its dominant position quite easily. That and the never ending flood of patches and security updates, makes that this decision by Microsoft will be welcomed by a lot of people, … right?

EU itself is ‘not amused’

Not everybody is happy however. And the first to come forward is now the EU itself. That is a surprise. What’s going on here? The EU now is afraid that a less usable operating system will hit the market, because it will be lacking a web browser. The EU has expected an operating system in which the user would be offered a choice at first use. It currently seems like this is not going to happen.
Of course, offering the user a choice would be the right way to solve this. I feel however that a choice, any choice, should be based on proper and complete information. How thought through can a decision be when the user is confronted with a situation that shows a row of radio buttons, the above one representing a choice for Internet Explorer. Not unlikely that this radio will default be checked. The majority of users probably won’t even recognise the names of alternatives like Chrome, Safari, Opera and Firefox.
I guess that in a ideal world every web user informs himself on the different alternatives for web browsing and the pro’s and cons of each of these alternatives, before installing anything. After all, we are still lightyears away from a pc that is fully idiot, hacker and real-world proof. By the way: has anybody already found that website which compares the different browsers in a way that the average user can understand?

The only hope for those who seek ‘integration’

Outside of Europe Microsoft will continue the course it has been pursuing for years. So there still is some hope for those who seek an operating system with an integrated web browser. Just go shopping in the US, China, Russia or any other country outside of the European Union. Note that it will probably be difficult to get hold of a Dutch version though.

The alternatives

For those who don’t already know the alternatives; here’s the shortlist.

• Microsoft Internet Explorer
• Mozilla Firefox
• Google Chrome
• Apple Safari
• Opera