Comments on: Microsoft unbundles Internet Explorer from Windows 7 – in Europe, that is http://www.itwriting.com/blog/1509-microsoft-unbundles-internet-explorer-from-windows-7-in-europe-that-is.html Tech writing blog Sun, 12 Feb 2012 21:04:12 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Alex Atkin UK http://www.itwriting.com/blog/1509-microsoft-unbundles-internet-explorer-from-windows-7-in-europe-that-is.html/comment-page-1#comment-134710 Alex Atkin UK Mon, 15 Jun 2009 14:16:37 +0000 http://www.itwriting.com/blog/1509-microsoft-unbundles-internet-explorer-from-windows-7-in-europe-that-is.html#comment-134710 Well said Clyde. Its also rather pointless due to the fact as Tim pointed out, 99% of IE will remain as that is what drives Windows Help, Desktop Gadgets, and most HTML rendering used in an assortment of Windows applications. All they are really doing is hiding the IE shortcut (possibly removing iexplore.exe) which no doubt OEMs will just put it back anyway, so this will make no difference at all. I will never understand the logic about all this. Either you want capitalism or you do not. What gives anyone the right to say what is/is not allowed to be part of an OS? Why are Apple not restricted in the same ways? Microsoft being a near-monopoly is irrelevant, the rules should apply to all equally. If they are going to do this then its about time they banned Tesco own-brand cornflakes, because Tesco are the largest supermarket so have an unfair advantage over Kellogs? There are so many places this could apply. Anyway back to Windows. The only thing not including IE is going to do is confuse the hell out of your average user. I still know plenty of people who do not know what a web browser is, they just know the IE icon gets them on the Internet. These people are likely to take their PC back to the store thinkings its faulty if they cannot find IE. One such person asked me recently what Chrome was (it had gotten installed when they installed Google Earth) and as he did not understand what a web browser was I was fairly stumped how to make him understand. I tried to explain it was a better way of going on the web, but I am sure he will still click the IE icon, its long since become a habit and familiar. Well said Clyde.

Its also rather pointless due to the fact as Tim pointed out, 99% of IE will remain as that is what drives Windows Help, Desktop Gadgets, and most HTML rendering used in an assortment of Windows applications. All they are really doing is hiding the IE shortcut (possibly removing iexplore.exe) which no doubt OEMs will just put it back anyway, so this will make no difference at all.

I will never understand the logic about all this. Either you want capitalism or you do not. What gives anyone the right to say what is/is not allowed to be part of an OS? Why are Apple not restricted in the same ways? Microsoft being a near-monopoly is irrelevant, the rules should apply to all equally.

If they are going to do this then its about time they banned Tesco own-brand cornflakes, because Tesco are the largest supermarket so have an unfair advantage over Kellogs? There are so many places this could apply.

Anyway back to Windows. The only thing not including IE is going to do is confuse the hell out of your average user. I still know plenty of people who do not know what a web browser is, they just know the IE icon gets them on the Internet. These people are likely to take their PC back to the store thinkings its faulty if they cannot find IE.
One such person asked me recently what Chrome was (it had gotten installed when they installed Google Earth) and as he did not understand what a web browser was I was fairly stumped how to make him understand. I tried to explain it was a better way of going on the web, but I am sure he will still click the IE icon, its long since become a habit and familiar.

]]> By: Clyde Davies http://www.itwriting.com/blog/1509-microsoft-unbundles-internet-explorer-from-windows-7-in-europe-that-is.html/comment-page-1#comment-134549 Clyde Davies Sat, 13 Jun 2009 07:54:45 +0000 http://www.itwriting.com/blog/1509-microsoft-unbundles-internet-explorer-from-windows-7-in-europe-that-is.html#comment-134549 I think a lot of this kind of thinking is still rooted in the 1970s and '80s, when an OS was simply a platform on which you built your own applications. Now it is more like an an environment where you expect to have all your day-to-day gadgets at your fingertips, aminly because they are consumer items as opposed to academic and business tools. The EU needs to move on. Would they penalise car manufacturers for fitting their own radios, air con, sat nav? I don't think so. So why OS manufacturers? I think a lot of this kind of thinking is still rooted in the 1970s and ’80s, when an OS was simply a platform on which you built your own applications. Now it is more like an an environment where you expect to have all your day-to-day gadgets at your fingertips, aminly because they are consumer items as opposed to academic and business tools.

The EU needs to move on. Would they penalise car manufacturers for fitting their own radios, air con, sat nav? I don’t think so. So why OS manufacturers?

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